Rhapsody of Harry Potter
by Fiery Goddess of Ice
Summary: Harry Potter has never been normal. Soon, he will gain new powers that could drive him insane, but will anyone be there to bring him back from the brink? And what are the Elemental Guardians? SSHP slash. Now with complimentary Epic Battle Scene. Abandoned.
1. On The Blind Side

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

Chapter One: On the Blind Side

Rated PG13 just because I'm not sure how bad it is or will get.

Disclaimer: Chapter titles are from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money unless otherwise specified. I don't own Harry Potter and the other characters and settings, I'm just _borrowing_ them _::cough::_ for my own evil… I mean, not _evil_, definitely _not _evil, well for my own purposes. So back off evil lawyers! _::waves a blow-up bat threateningly::_

Warnings: Um, Slash (Yaoi, Shounen-ai, whatever else it's called), probably bad jokes too. Mentions of abuse and I might put in an actual abuse scene, but only if I can convince someone to write it for me, 'cos I don't know how to write them and I know any I do write would suck.

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'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, go escape from reality.' –Bohemian Rhapsody

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Harry grasped for one of the Painless Potions that he had spent all of the last school year stocking up on. He quickly drank the contents of the vial and sat back on the bed, thankful for the relief the potion would give him from his wounds. 

Harry had searched for a potion to give him a release from the pain inflicted upon him by his uncle after the summer between fifth and sixth year, when his uncle had decided that his 'freaky friends' wouldn't come if they didn't know anything was wrong. So Vernon Dursley had proceeded to beat him into submission so that he couldn't (or wouldn't) tell his friends that he was mistreating him without fear of being killed. Seeing as he had such a duty to the world to kill Voldemort, he had decided that killing him was important enough to not die by the hand of a muggle before he could.

Vernon had found out after a week of the summer holidays that Harry's magic healed him (including his eyesight, which Vernon had finally clued in to), depending on how serious the wound was. A small cut or bruise would heal overnight, a large bruise or a deep cut would take about three days to heal, and a fractured or broken bone would take up to a week to heal by itself. This in itself lead to beatings, even though it was the one good use of the 'm' word according to his uncle, as he was using magic in their house, no matter that it was unintentional and caused by Vernon Dursley in the first place.

The Dursley's classified this as a good thing, as they could harm him basically any way they wanted, and then return him to Hogwarts with no proof or evidence that it had happened except his word. Then he had found out that Dumbledore was making him stay at the Dursley's all summer, and had resigned himself to a summer filled with broken bones, cuts, and bruises.

And none of his friends had even noticed.

This was his thought as he lay on the bed in Dudley's second bedroom waiting for the potion to take effect. It had been the same this summer, the last one he would have to spend at the Dursley's household, except it had begun worse. Now that his uncle knew that he could get away with the beatings with nobody noticing, he increased his ferocity from the moment Harry had cautiously stepped in the door.

It was now the last day of the summer, and he had just received his final attack, which wasn't as bad as it had been at the start of summer, and had just been opening day old wounds that would heal overnight and breaking a few fingers, which were the only bones that healed overnight.

Harry stared at his bloody clothes (literally bloody), which he wasn't sure could actually be classified as clothes anymore, as they were barely clinging onto his body, covered in dried and fresh blood, and were merely tatters. He was suddenly insanely glad that there weren't any vampires around. This sent him into maniacal laughter (mind you, very _quiet_ maniacal laughter) where it wasn't really funny but if he didn't laugh he'd probably go insane (well, more insane).

Still quietly laughing to himself Harry drifted off to sleep, looking forward to tomorrow and Hogwarts like no normal person has ever looked forward to school (except possibly Hermione).

Then again, when was he ever normal?

And it's a fairly safe bet that he was never Hermione.

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Harry looked down at the long overcoat that the Dursleys had made him wear to cover up the bloodied clothes he was wearing. It was one of Dudley's older coats, which they had not given him before as it was 'too good to be wasted on the boy'. The coat actually fit fairly well, considering his cousin had worn it when he was six, and he was short enough for the supposedly knee-length black coat to actually come down to his ankles.

Dragging the trunk along in his now-healed hand, Harry walked straight up to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, and walked through without fuss, not particularly caring if a muggle saw him walk through a wall. Quickly, he walked onto the train and headed for the luggage compartment, stashing his trunk and owl cage (he had sent Hedwig to Hogwarts to wait for him after his last message to the Order) in a spare place, then morphing into a fairly small seal-point Ragdoll cat (one of his animagus forms) and curling up on his trunk before going to sleep.

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Hours later, he woke up as a voice rang through the train telling the students that there were five minutes before they would be disembarking from the train. Harry stretched out and changed back into a human, before quickly switching his coat for his Hogwarts robes and standing at the door waiting for the train to come to a stop. When the train came to a halting stop, he waited for a few seconds before jumping out of the train.

Harry walked briskly to the area with the thestral-drawn carriages and petted one (which he somehow recognised as the one he had ridden more than a year ago to the MoM) before swiftly entering one of the carriages. Another person sitting in the carriage jumped slightly when he entered, and he looked quizzically at the girl sitting across from him.

She was staring at him with two-toned eyes that were blue in the centre and changed into green around the outside, and her blond-streaked, dark brown hair framed her face nicely.

"Oh god, _Harry!_ I thought you were professor _Snape _for a minute, you scared me half to death!" Harry raised an eyebrow at the Slytherin. "See! You're doing it again!" she exclaimed.

"Hello to you too, Blaise," Harry replied sarcastically.

"Oh dear lord Harry, _stop it!_ It's really freaking me out. Just when you thought a Gryffindor couldn't get any more unpredictable-"

It was an almost thankful Harry that found she had been interrupted by none other than Draco Malfoy climbing into the carriage next to her. The blond looked him over once then briefly nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Potter."

Harry imitated to movement. "Malfoy."

Blaise jumped up and cheerfully shouted, "ZABINI!" making the carriage rock madly. Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her in the same way Harry had. "Gah! You're all going insane! First Harry, now Draco… or maybe Harry was imitating Draco not professor Snape…"

"Blaise, _sit down,_" Malfoy commanded, and seemed to be actually surprised when she did. "Potter, you look like the living dead."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Thanks oh so much for that."

Last year, Harry had decided that the animosity shared between them had to stop, and so they had come to a sort of truce, though by no means were they friends. Blaise, on the other hand, would definitely be classified as a friend, as it was hard not to like the loud and always cheerful Slytherin girl. Actually it was quite difficult to hate her, he would know, he had tried so hard. The girl in question frowned at him.

"Actually, you look even worse than you did last year," she commented. "Have you been eating? Have you been sleeping properly? Have you been-"

"I'm fine," Harry cut her off.

"You know that fine stands for Feeling Incredibly Nasty and… um… Eggplant," Blaise told them.

"Eggplant?" Malfoy asked.

"Er, well, I couldn't think of anything for 'E'," she replied sheepishly.

Harry would have hit his head if he wanted to risk the extreme pain he knew would come with it. The Boy-Who-Lived-To-Spite-Voldiewart sighed and leaned his head back on the seat and closed his eyes as the carriage started moving forwards.

**

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****Author's Notes**

Ok, this is my first official fanfic so don't be too harsh on me. Umm, Harry is going to have a few more animagus forms, but they'll all be felines (because I like cats and I want a tiger!). Please feel free to point out any other mistakes you spot as I need all the help I can get!

Please review so I know how bad I am at writing, but please don't flame me badly _::cringes from the thought of roasted Goddess::_. So what I'm trying to say is; please review! I have no reason to live other than to get reviews! Well, I do, but that's entirely beside the point...

Anyway... sorry for rambling on, just one last word before you go...

PLEASEREVIEW!


	2. Down The Back Ways

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

Chapter Two: Down The Back Ways

Rated PG13 because I'm not quite sure what would have it rated and how bad this story will get.

Summary: Harry gets abused and retreats into himself (NOT a Harry gets saved from the Dursleys fic). He gains new powers that could drive him insane, but will anyone be there to bring him back from the brink? And what are the Elemental Guardians? Will be slash.

Warnings: Let's see, slash and bad jokes… Mentions of abuse and I may put in an abuse scene, but only if I can convince someone to write it for me… say, would anyone care to write me an abuse scene? Please? Points and lemon drops to anyone who does? Please? Please?

Disclaimer: Chapter titles are from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money unless I say it's something else. JKR owns Harry Potter and the other characters and settings, not me… WHAT?! I DON'T?! WHEN WAS SOMEONE GOING TO INFORM ME OF THIS?! I DEMAND BLOOD!!!

Adrianne- _::appears on shoulder in a puff of red smoke:: _You do realise how pathetic they'll think you are, right?

Katlyn- _::appears on other shoulder in a puff of white smoke::_ Awfully sorry my Goddess, but for once I agree with her.

Goddess- Gah! _::falls over anime style:: _Everyone's against me! Even my shoulder angels! Woe is me!

A & K- _::sneak away muttering about lunatics being allowed anywhere these days::_

G-_::brightens considerably::_ Anyway, on with the story…

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'Nobody is listening. Until you make a mistake' –Furry Logic

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Harry quickly walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down on the bench at the halfway point of the table. After a minute he was found by Ron and Hermione, who sat on either side of him and started to bombard him with questions as to where he had been on the train. He gave them short answers to all their questions, and they left him alone purely because Professor McGonagall came in with the first years and the sorting hat at that particular moment.

Harry heard one of the first year students gasp loudly at the sight of the sorting hat open its… rip, and begin to sing the song it had written for this year.

_I may be merely a sorting hat,_

_And perhaps an ancient one too,_

_But I, before, have told you that_

_Which you know to be true._

_Gryffindor, so brave and bold,_

_Yes he loved playing pranks and to kid,_

_He may have had a heart of gold,_

_But could anyone be so stupid?_

_Hufflepuff, so just and loyal,_

_She was patient and kind to a fault,_

_Perhaps she was unafraid of toil,_

_But she would patiently come to a halt._

_Ravenclaw, the intelligent and witty,_

_Oh how she loved books above all,_

_She was, sometimes, considered snooty,_

_And was certainly a know-it-all._

_Slytherin, the cunning and sly,_

_He wasn't really that bad, _

_He was cold to people, loving to lie,_

_But mostly he was just sad._

_The four of them, they had their flaws,_

_Just like everyone here and now,_

_So why is it you set down the laws, _

_Saying that all must fight and row?_

_I warned you before, _

_And I'll do it again,_

_Unite within, this is war!_

A complete silence came over the great hall, and then whispers broke out about the sorting hat's disrespect for the dead founders of Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore stood up.

"Students, please calm down so that the sorting may begin," he said, then sat down as everyone shut up.

Professor McGonagall quickly read down the scroll of first years, and Harry noticed a boy he knew.

"Evans, Mark!"

The small (he was actually one of the tallest there) boy with mousy brown hair walked up to the stool and put the hat on. A few seconds later, the hat shouted "_GRYFFINDOR_!" then walked over and sat down at the cheering table across from Hermione.

Finally, the sorting came to an end with Yran, Tabitha ('_RAVENCLAW!_'), and the headmaster stood up again.

"Well, I wouldn't want to keep you waiting," with a grand gesture around the hall, he said; "etslay ateay!"

Ron blinked, actually ignoring the food on his plate for once. "What did he say?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione looked perplexed, but Harry answered for her. "I'd say that Dumbledore's been researching Pig-Latin, Ron. He actually said 'lets eat'."

"Harry Potter?!"

Harry looked up at Mark Evans, who was looking straight at him with wide eyes. "Yes? I hope that this is more of an 'Oh my god, I know you!' exclamation, than an 'Oh my god, run away! It's Harry Potter!' exclamation."

"But… but, mum warned me that you go to St Brutus' School for Incurably Criminal Boys and to stay away from you…"

The boy trailed off because Harry had started laughing and all the people surrounding them had turned to see who was being accused of going to a school like St Brutus' School for Incurably Criminal Boys. Ron, of course, had started to choke on the food he had stuffed in his mouth.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's just what the Dursley's make up to say where I go to school since I got my letter for Hogwarts. Sorry about my cousin, too, but he'd taken to beating up other people who are younger than him since he found out that I could do magic and turn him into a pig… not that it would take much."

"Actually, Dudley hasn't been beating up as many other kids when he was back this summer and last summer," Mark replied thoughtfully.

"That's probably because they found out that I… er… couldn't do magic outside of school… and, er, trying to catch me is more fun than beating up other kids for no reason..."

God Harry was a bad liar when he wasn't concentrating.

Thankfully, dinner went by without anyone questioning his excuse, though Hermione and Ron were probably thinking about how to get information out of him later. Well, Hermione at any rate, Harry thought as he saw that Ron was engaged in a miniature food war with Seamus and Dean.

After everyone had finished their desert, the plates and food vanished, leaving a room of very full group of students and one Harry Potter who had finally gotten a meal of more than bread and water. Then Professor Dumbledore stood up, and Harry had no idea that the professor would be delivering some good news, and some horrifically horrible news that outweighed the good by... well, a lot.

"Ah, now that we are all fed and no longer dieing of starvation (::_he has no idea that that was actually a literal statement_::), I have some announcements for you. Number one is that our caretaker, Mr Filch, has put all Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes known to him on the list of banned items, so I suggest that you hide your supply well.

"Also, seventh year students have been granted the privilege of attending a trip to Serenade School of Performing Magic for a week, to see a performance they have kindly prepared, and also to see what varying types of magic they teach. The students who wish to attend will need the permission of their parents or guardians, so please notify your head of house as soon as you decide to go.

"On a _slightly_ less cheerful note, I am sorry to inform you that because of the threat of Voldemort (_::gasps from the students::_) Hogwarts is going to have the wards renewed and reinforced by some skilled witches and wizards, thanks to the ever-present pestering from parents. We are sorry to say that this means we will have to close the school down to all those wishing to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, which means that all of the students are to go home and visit their relatives, and have a Christmas with family!

"That is everything of importance from me, now off to bed with you, and get some sleep for tomorrows classes!" Dumbledore finished with that ever annoying twinkle.

Unfortunately, Harry hadn't heard anything after 'close down the school for the Christmas holidays' and even worse 'go and visit relatives'. Ron and Hermione had stood up and started herding the students out of the Great Hall, so neither of them noticed that Harry wasn't following with them.

The boy in question was actually still at Gryffindor table, staring in horror at the head table with a look of utter despair and… well, abject horror.

He had to go back to the Dursley's for Christmas…

**

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****Author's Notes**

I had to add that bit there so that Harry has something to look forward to. Well… not look forward to precisely, but… you know what I mean. Hopefully. I am totally evil. Hee hee. Wait, no, I take it back! Dumbledore is evil! Not me!

I hope that I did an ok job on the sorting hat song, that took me ages and it's still shoddy. If there's anything I can do to make it better then please tell me. And please tell me if the chapters are too short or something.

If anyone was wondering what was up with Adrianne and Katlyn at the start, they are two Shadow Angels from another story I'm working on, and just in case you didn't figure it out, Adrianne is like the demon type person and Katlyn is the angel type person… shoulder angel… thing. And if anyone doesn't know what a shoulder angel is, you should really watch 'The Emperor's New Groove' (not mine, Disney's).

I really need people to review, because I'm sure that there has to be a mistake somewhere, I'm not that good at writing am I? Anyway, thanks to my grand total of ONE reviewer Serenla, you rule and thanks for the support. And remember,

**PLEASEREVIEW!**


	3. The Roots of Sadness Crawl

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter **

Chapter Three: The Roots of Sadness Crawl 

Rated PG13 because I said so.

Summary: Harry gets abused and retreats into himself (NOT a Harry gets saved from the Dursleys fic). He gains new powers that could drive him insane, but will anyone be there to bring him back from the brink? And what are the Elemental Guardians? Will probably be slash.

Warnings: Now, lets see if I can remember… what was it… oh yeah, I remember! Mentions of abuse (still need to get someone to write a scene for me, I'm desperate here… maybe I could just inflict my terrible writing of one upon you…), cruddy jokes, and SLASH! If you don't like slash then you should probably reacquaint yourself with 'Ye Olde Backe Button'. But could you write a review first?

Disclaimer: Chapter titles so far are from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money. I don't own McDonalds sugar packets. As far as I know I don't own Harry Potter and such, that's JKR's, but I do have a plan to steal them involving a pen, paper, a nail file, bad theme music, and a lawyer to get me out of trouble when my plan fails.

K- _::reappears on shoulder:: _What's with the nail file? How could that possibly help you steal Harry Potter?

A- _::Also reappears::_ Don't you know that nail files are lethal weapons? You could file a person's nails off with that!

G- Well, according to the funny security guards at the airport they _are_ lethal weapons! If they're going to be stealing people's nail files from them anyway, I might as well make it a weapon of some kind! Hey… maybe I could get Hermione to wield the Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT! MWA HA HA HA! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! Absolutely genius I say! And if my calculations are correct, slinky escalator EVERLASTING FUN!

K- _:: sweat drops::_ Right! Who gave her sugar?

A- _::tucks packet of McDonalds sugar behind her back and whistles innocently::_

K- Why do people even bother to whistle innocently? It just makes them more suspicious. Just don't let her start writing the story while she's on a sugar high… _::spots sugar-high-Goddess reach for the keyboard::_ NOOOO! STOP HER!!!

G- _::laughs maniacally and types Katlyn and Adrianne out of the scene:: _Bye bye!

K & A- _::disappear in a puffs of smoke::_

G- Yippee! Now there's nobody left to stop me from writing the scene! Mwa ha ha ha!

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If you think things can't get worse, it's only because you lack sufficient imagination.

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It was almost one in the morning when Winky the house-elf went into the Great Hall to clean the floor and the tables from dinner the previous evening. As such, she was incredibly surprised to see Harry Potter still sitting at the Gryffindor house table staring in abject horror at the head table, and let out a startled squeak (Winky that is, not Harry).

Startled by the startled squeak, Harry jumped and fell off the bench that he had been sitting on. Staring up at the enchanted ceiling from his position on the floor, he suddenly remembered something from the slightly (_::cough::_) happier news that Dumbledore had given.

"… _attending a trip to Serenade School of Performing Magic for a week, to see a performance they have kindly prepared_…_ students who wish to attend will need the permission of their parents or guardians_…_"_

"Permission from parents or guardians? Oh no… that means the Dursleys… Professor Dumbledore will let me go won't he? He knows that they wouldn't sign anything… they'd probably rejoice in having the power to make me utterly miserable even when I'm at Hogwarts…" Harry mumbled to himself, still staring at the ceiling from the floor and showing no signs of getting up. "GAH!"

Suddenly, Harry's lovely view of the night sky outside had been blocked off by a large house-elf head with impossibly large eyes peering at him in curiosity, making him jump. Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky this time, and he cracked his head on the stone floor. Wincing, he held the back of his head and looked to the house-elf.

"I is being sorry Mr Harry Potter sir, I was not meaning to startle you," she said with tears in her eyes. "I was just checking to see if you was alright, after all it is nearly being one in the morning and you is still in the Great Hall!"

"Oh, ow, Winky? What are you doing here?"

"Winky is here to clean up the Hall for the students tomorrow, not that they will notice," Winky suddenly got a horrified look on her face. "Oh, I is not meaning to say that! I isn't! That was a terrible thing for Winky to say about the students of Headmaster Dumbledore! Oh, I is missing master!" she exclaimed and threw herself onto Harry, sobbing uncontrollably.

There was no doubt in Harry's mind that she was talking about Barty Crouch (one of them), but he didn't sympathise with her about that, as he was rather more fond of them being dead where they couldn't cause any trouble. But back to the point, he had a quite hysterical house-elf crying into his robes and he didn't know what to do. So, carefully, he patted her on the back and made soft reassuring noises.

Almost as quickly as she had started, she stopped, and pulled back from Harry with a teary-eyed look, still sniffling.

"Winky is s-sorry Harry Potter s-sir, I is not meaning to ruin your robes-s. Oh, I is being (_sniff_) such a terrible house-elf, I isn't deserving (_sniff_) to go to a real family!" she wailed, rocking back an forth.

"It doesn't matter Winky, really! I think that my robes are able to withstand a few tears if they can withstand the stuff under them."

Winky looked at him in a curious manner, still sniffling, and Harry realised what he'd just said. _bugger_. "What does Harry Potter sir mean?"

Harry sighed and pulled his robes off for Winky to see his clothes. The small house-elf gasped and covered her mouth with her hands at the sight of the torn clothes caked with dried blood.

"What happened to Harry Potter sir?"

"It doesn't matter Winky."

"Of course it matters!" the little elf raged. "Somebody hurt Harry Potter sir! You is being a friend of Dobby's, and Dobby is Winky's friend even if he is being a bit, well, very strange! You should be going to see Madam Pomphrey!"

"I'm not hurt now Winky, so I'm not going to go to see Madam Pomphrey to waste her time. Um, I don't suppose you'd be able to fix these clothes would you? It's just that this is actually the best set I have at the moment, and I don't particularly want anyone to see the state they're in, but it will probably be hot in the greenhouses and stuff and I wont be able to take my robes off, and…"

Harry realised that while he had been rambling, Winky had indeed fixed his clothes and they were looking as good as when he got them. Better actually, since she'd made them fit him as well.

"Thank you Winky, it means a lot."

"It is being no problem Harry Potter sir. It is what we house-elves love to be doing," she said proudly, puffing her chest out.

"Winky? Could you not tell Dumbledore? Please?"

"Of course Harry Potter sir, Winky is keeping this secret! You is able to be trusting me! Winky is a _good_ house-elf! And if Mr Harry Potter sir doesn't mind me saying… you is looking like the living dead. You should be getting some sleep in your dormitory!"

Harry grinned at the worried elf's words. "Alright then Winky, if you want me to go so that you can get some work done, I will. Bye. Oh, could you tell Dobby that I said hi?"

"Goodbye Mr Harry Potter Sir, Winky is telling Dobby that you is saying hi."

With that, Harry left the Great Hall and dragged himself up the many staircases to the Gryffindor Tower, and said the password to the Fat Lady, being very thankful that Neville had thought to ask the password at dinner so that he could get a head start at memorising it.

There was nobody in the common room (it _was_ one in the morning), so Harry walked up the stairs and quietly opened the door to his dormitory. As soon as he got into the room he was hit with a blast of noise. All of the other four occupants of the room seemed to have taken up the bad habit of snoring, and it sounded almost as bad as a tornado. It even _looked _like a tornado had hit the room, and it was only the first night back at Hogwarts.

Harry sighed and changed into his pyjamas (the only clothes that weren't his school robes that hadn't been destroyed) and got into his four-poster bed, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

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Harry woke up at quarter to eight in the morning, only due to the fact that Ron was yelling at him to wake up.

"Harry! Wake up! Breakfast! And we get timetables!"

"Urgh… Alright I'm up, I'm up!"

Hermione hadn't known that Harry wasn't already in the boy's dormitory when they had gotten to the common room last night, and Ron had obviously forgotten all about the fact that he hadn't been in bed already, so neither mentioned him being gone.

"Hey, Harry, what do think of that Serenade School thing? Sounds a bit girly, doesn't it?" Ron asked as they entered the hall.

"Ron! I don't think it's girly at all. Besides which, heaps of boys go there too. It's the only school for Performing Magic in this hemisphere, you know. I read about it in '_Magic Schools of the World_', it was very interesting. You should read it, then you would at least be able to keep up with some intelligent conversation for a while. Are you listening Ron?" Hermione asked, glaring at the oblivious red-head.

"Hermione, I think you lost him after 'hemisphere'," Harry told her.

"Hmph! Boys!"

"Hey, I was listening! Not all boys are that bad!" Harry protested. "Just Ron."

Ron was obviously in his own little world, although, this could be explained by the appearance of food in front of him, so it wasn't that unpredictable.

Just as the trio finished eating their breakfasts, professor McGonagall walked up the table and handed the students their timetables for the year. Harry glanced down at his and groaned.

"I hate Mondays! Double Potions, double Divination, double Care of Magical Creatures!"

Ron also groaned. "Remind me why we kept with Potions and Divination?"

"Because we want to be aurors, and somehow we managed to get E's on our OWL's for Divination and Trelawny wouldn't let us quit it," Harry replied.

"You know what?" Ron said. "Fate is obviously against us!"

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Ron. I personally don't see what's wrong with Mondays, but I _do _get to do Arithmancy instead of Divination." Hermione said.

"Snape, Trelawny, and god knows what dangerous creature in CoMC? With our luck, Hagrid will take it upon himself to bring in one of the Acromantula!" Ron went white when he said this.

"Good point."

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G- GUESS WHAT!!!

A- _::reappears::_ What?! What?!

G- _::bounces up and down in excitement::_ I've got more reviews! I posted this as quickly as possible because I was added to people's favourites! YAY!

A- Really? You?

G- _::glares at Adrianne::_

K-_ ::reappears::_ Hannah Abby; we were wondering if anyone would pick up on that part…

G- actually, I was wondering if I'd _have_ any reviewers to pick up on it… but you'll be seeing what happens a bit later.

A- MaraWeaves; I think that most of the Blaise's in fanfiction are boys, but for some unknown reason she decided that she likes Blaise as a girl better…

G- also, thanx to monica85 and JeanMarie. I wonder if I could kill the Dursleys with the Evil File of LIKTYSPLIT… _::gets an evil grin on her face and suddenly appears in the Dursley kitchen holding a giant nail file::_ HEY! Where are they?! Stupid Dursleys being out when I'm planning to kill them… I bet they did it on purpose!

K- _::shakes head at Goddess:: _Anyway, thanks to the reviewers. Could people please tell us what couples they'd like and which ones they'll make sure to kill her if she writes it in? and don't forget:

PLEASEREVIEW!


	4. Can't Get What You Need

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter **

**Chapter Four: Can't Get What You Need**

Rated PG13 because I will probably get people to swear. How bad can you swear for PG13?

Summary: Harry gets abused and retreats into himself (NOT a Harry gets saved from the Dursleys fic). He gains new powers that could drive him insane, but will anyone be there to bring him back from the brink? And what are the Elemental Guardians? Will probably be slash.

Warnings: Abuse. Psychoticness. That isn't a word, is it? SLASH, because I love slash!

Disclaimer: Chapter titles are from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money. I still don't own Harry Potter and such, they are _still_ JKR's. The strangeness from the last chapter was the sugar's, so it was also not mine. _::cough::_…

A- The sugar just brings out the psycho beneath.

K- You do know that people already thought you were weird when you told them you talk to imaginary shoulder angels.

G- Well fine then! You now don't exist! Happy now?

_**This isn't here**_ >>>K- Quite happy thanks. Hey! 

G- _::sniffs:: _It's your own fault. You were the one who didn't want to exist.

_**This isn't here**_ >>>K- Well you weren't supposed to do that! 

G- Did you hear something Adrianne?

A- Nope. Not a thing.

_**This isn't here**_ >>>K- _::pouts:: _

* * *

1 million people walking past parliament is a protest. 1 million people walking past with guns is a revolution.

* * *

Double Potions was the same as any other potions lesson that Harry had ever been to, except for the slightly harder potions. Snape insulted Neville, Neville blew up a cauldron (why did he take NEWT potions again?), Snape yelled at Neville, Snape took about fifty house points from Gryffindor. Completely normal. Except that he ignored Harry's existence for once, which meant that Harry got the potion they were working on perfectly. Amazing what he could do without Snape breathing over his shoulder.

Then they had Divination. Professor Trelawney had told them that she had 'Seen' them studying scrying with various objects. The first object they were scrying with was a bowl of water, which was the easiest, but one of the least reliable scrying tools. The first thing she 'saw' in her bowl of water was Harry's untimely death involving a nail file. She was getting more creative every time they saw her.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were waiting outside Hagrid's hut for him to arrive. The only people in that class were the three of them, the rest of Harry's dorm mates, a few daring Ravenclaw's, and Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, and Justin Finch-Fetchley from Hufflepuff.

Hagrid stepped out of his cabin and gathered the students together.

"Righ' now. This year we'll be studyin' creatures that are more dangerous than previous years," Hagrid paused to wait for the groans (which were _obviously_ faked) to pass. "Ter start, we'll be studying the creatures of the four founders, so there'll be birds for Ravenclaw, burrowing creatures for Hufflepuff, felines for Gryffindor, and serpents for Slytherin. Now, I though' I'd start yer off with one of the interestin' animals that I was lucky enough to find on my travels!"

Hagrid paused again for another round of groans, as the students realised that 'Interesting' for Hagrid meant 'dangerous and potentially deadly' for them. "Righ'! Follow me!"

Hagrid led them out behind his hut and further towards the Forbidden Forest. A couple of meters from the start of the forest was a large cage covered with a thin, white cloth. Coming from inside the cage were several voices.

"_Right, on my cue, we will all aim for that part of the metal thing and ram it_…"

"_And once we are outside in the open, we shall be free of all constraints. There will be plenty of rats to eat, and we shall walk through the valley and fear no evil_…"

"_You two are pathetic! We'll break our heads if we try ramming the metal, and I wish you would stop quoting things. I mean, the bible? Where did you get a bible anyway? Never mind that, why would you _read_ the bible?_"

Harry laughed. He then looked back to the class, and saw that everyone was looking at him as though he'd lost it, except for Hagrid who was beaming at him.

(A/N I'm going to mention that I have nothing against the bible or Christians and such. Actually, the bible would be good to read if it didn't have so many numbers interrupting it to make it loose its flow and confuse people.)

"What?" Harry asked.

"Harry, nobody said anything worth laughing at," Ron whispered to him.

"But the–" Harry closed his mouth as he realised what was in the cage, and he turned to Hagrid. "You found one with a right head?"

None of the others were following this, but Hagrid nodded at him and beamed again. "Tha's righ'. Now gather roun' students, don' be scared of him, she won' hurt yer."

They clustered around the cage, but not too close, as they were sure there would be something incredibly dangerous in the cage. Harry moved closer to the cage than the others, since he already figured out what was in the cage. Hagrid pulled off the cover with a flourish, and as the others got a look at what was inside, they gasped. Except for the few girls who screamed. Inside was an orange and black striped snake of about two foot in length with three heads.

"_Quick, look innocent!_" said the left head of the snake.

Harry laughed again. "_I think it would be a bit hard for a two foot long, bright orange snake with three heads to look innocent,_" Harry told them.

All three heads of the Runespoor turned to face him. "_The human speaks our language!_" the middle one said.

"_We can see that you idiot, don't need to state the obvious,_" the right head replied.

"Well now! As you all can see, this here is a Runespoor. The left head of the snake is the planner, the middle head is the dreamer, and the right head is the critic. The critic is the only head which has poisonous fangs, but because of it's annoying nature, the other two heads usually band together to bite that head off," Hagrid told them.

"_Hey! You wouldn't do that would you?_" the right head questioned the other two.

"_Well, there goes the element of surprise,_" the left head said. "_Now I will_ _need to devise a new plan for that_…"

"This one is fairly young, as she is only two foot long and they grow to about six foot…"

"_HEY!_" the three heads shouted at once. "_I'll have you know that we are quite male!_" the middle one finished.

"Um, Hagrid?" Harry interrupted. "They say that they're male."

"Oh, righ' then. Now…"

Hagrid continued the lesson explaining the Runespoor in greater detail, and telling them some of the other creatures they would be studying. He then gave them their homework and sent them on their way.

"Harry," Hermione started as they walked back up to the castle. "Was the runespoor actually arguing with itself? It's rather fascinating you know, being able to talk to them and find out what they know and their experiences as serpents, and if it was older then it would have been able to tell us all about the history it had seen…"

Harry blinked from the sudden Hermione-speech. "Er, yes, it was arguing with itself?" he said tentatively.

"Really? Do you think it would be likely to bite the right head off? I mean, was it arguing consistently or–"

"Hermione, are you going to that Serenade school thing?" Ron interrupted.

"Of course! If it's alright with my parents. It will be a really great learning experience. Are you two thinking of going?"

"Yeah," Ron said. "Might as well, I mean, we get out of here for a week. That means no potions with Snape for a whole week!"

"Well, you're the one who wants to be an auror, Ron. What about you Harry?"

"Well, I want to go, but I have to talk to Dumbledore about that, because he said that we need permission from out parents or guardians, and he knows that the Dursleys wouldn't sign anything unless it would get rid of me."

"Maybe you shouldn't go, because of the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who," Ron said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the decidedly Hermione gesture coming from Ron. The fact that it was Ron made him rather suspicious. "Really? Well, that doesn't matter. I can't have my whole life ruled by Voldie and the Death Munchers, I do need to have fun every now and then."

Harry started to walk away from the other two, and back towards where they had come from.

"Wait! Harry! Where are you going?" Hermione called after him, and Harry turned his head back towards her.

"I'm going to see Dumbledore, if you don't mind," and he stalked off.

Harry hummed to himself as he walked to the headmaster's office. When he got to the gargoyle leading to the office, he absently drummed his fingers on the stone, trying to think of a likely password to open it, when the gargoyle opened itself. Peering up the staircase, he didn't see anyone so he walked up the moving stairs, discarding the incident as pure, dumb luck. Knocking on the door at the top, he walked into the office, noticing Dumbledore sitting at the desk staring absently out the window whilst stroking Fawkes, who cawed to Harry when he saw him.

Dumbledore looked up when the phoenix made the sound, and frowned when he saw Harry there, as though he wasn't expecting him (which was a first). Harry was very proud of himself at that moment when he realised that he had pulled one over the 'all-knowing' headmaster. The old man then smiled that irritating, knowing smile.

"Ah, Harry. I was expecting you to come and see me sometime. This is about the School of Performing Magic, is it not?"

How Harry despised that smile sometimes. Especially when the man was correct in his assumptions. Harry had been rather pissed off at Dumbledore at the end of his fifth year, but that had grown deeper than that after the holidays and the so called '_all-knowing_' headmaster hadn't realised what was happening to him at the Dursleys and had made him return there. Now he thought the headmaster was someone almost as bad as Voldemort, just on the opposite side of the war.

After all, he manipulated people to his needs, he lied (ok, mostly by omitting the truth, but it was still lying), admittedly he didn't kill the people who worked for him, but it could be said that he tortured them. Sirius had been told to stay in that accursed house, and that was torture to him. Harry had to stay at the Dursleys, that was torture literally. Even Snape, who he sent to Voldemort to torture, even though it wasn't technically Dumbledore doing the torturing, he was being tortured because he was there, which was because of Dumbledore.

"Yes it is about that. Am I allowed to go? Even though I would never be able to get permission from the Dursleys? You know how they are… And do I really have to go back to them in the Christmas holidays? I would rather stay here… in fact, _they_ would rather I stay here," he told Dumbledore.

Harry could see the answer written on the old man's face before he said it. If Harry was self-centred then he would be certain that Dumbledore had just made all this up to get back at him for drifting out of his control in the past year. It was the old man's own fault, really. If he hadn't kept so many secrets then Sirius probably wouldn't be dead, Harry would have known his fate, his parents would have known why Voldemort was after them, and Harry would have known the reason Voldemort was so desperate to kill him. Thinking for himself was really the only option left after his trust in Dumbledore had been destroyed.

"I'm sorry, Harry ('_Yeah right._'), but you need permission from your guardians, and I am not you guardian, that is the Dursleys job. And it would be too dangerous for you to stay here while the wards are being reset. Actually, it would probably be a danger for you to go the Serenade School, too," he said as though he hadn't been planning the whole speech beforehand, "so it would probably be a good idea for you to stay here where you'll be safe. "

And he said it with the bloody smile on his face. Damn, the man had him backed into a corner, the only way out of it would be to write the Dursleys. Well, if that's what it would take…

"Very well, headmaster. Terribly sorry to disturb your afternoon of window-staring," Harry said, turning around on his heel.

Dumbledore frowned at that. "Oh, Harry, I'm also sorry to tell you that you can't go to Hogsmede anymore without permission from your guardians either, as Sirius has been officially claimed as dead."

Harry stoped dead in his tracks. It was the control thing again. He merely nodded to tell that he had heard him, then kept walking out the door. Just when he was shutting the door behind him, he heard Dumbledore say one word that made him seethe inside.

"_Check_."

* * *

G- _::sniffle::_

A- What's wrong?

G- Oh reviewers, why hast thou forsaken me?

**_This isn't here_** >>>K- That didn't make sense. 

A- You probably confused them by your sugar high, or possibly by your general weirdness…

G- WAH! _::bursts into tears::_

**_This isn't here_** >>>K- Great job nitwit. 

A- Well, It's not my fault she's weird.

**_This isn't here_** >>>K- Careful or she'll strike you out of existance too. 

G- _::brightens with an incredible idea::_ Now that's a good idea.

**_This isn't here_** >>>A- Wait! You can't do that! 

G- I just did. _::giggles::_ Now, to business.

**>>>>IMPORTANT :** My longest chapter yet! PLEASE REVIEW! I need to know if people actually read my story. Oh, and sorry for the strangeness of the angels. It's their fault, not mine. Bad influence you see. If anyone else apart from my now fav reviewer MaraWeaves reviews, can you tell me who you want Harry to end up with, cos I have an idea, but I'm not sure if people will kill me for it or not… I'm too young to die!!!

Oh, and I solemnly swear to not talk to my imaginary friends unless it is important and relevant. Or if I get bored. Or if I really need inspiration. I think that's it. PLEASE REVIEW!


	5. Taking A Torch To It All

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter Five: Taking A Torch To It All**

Rated PG13 unless I decide that the rating is too high. Or unless I start having dreams telling me to change it. Either way.

Summary: If you haven't read the summary by now, then I'm very confused about how you began reading this fic.

Warnings: there is _still_ abuse warnings, and it's _still_ going to have terrible jokes, and, you guessed it, it _still_ is going to be slash! Imagine that!

Disclaimer: Chapter titles are _still _from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money. Do I really need to tell you that Harry isn't mine? Of course, I could say that I was there when JKR came up with the idea and it was my brilliant influence that gave the idea to her and so I should get some profit. But that wouldn't be true, so I wont. Unless you think I could get away with it…

G- This time there are no shoulder angels, they decided not to exist _:sniffs in uppity manner:_. So, I am going to kidnap Harry until the start of the chapter. _:snaps fingers and Harry appears in a puff of smoke:_

Harry- _:blinks and looks around:_ er… who are you? And how did I get here?

G- I am Goddess! I rule all… except for everyone and everything that I don't rule. Anyway, since my reviewers haven't given me very specific answers to my ultimate question, I decided to ask you. Who do you want to end up with? And it has to be a guy.

H- _:blinks twice:_ Um… I've never really thought of it. Why does it have to be a guy?

G- Because I promised the readers that it would be slash! And I love slash! Let me shorten the list for you… a Slytherin.

H- Er… let's see, it would have to be Malfoy or Snape then, wouldn't it? I mean, it can't be any of the people who already work for Voldie, so that gets rid of most of the Slytherin's out of school. Well, Crabbe and Goyle… that would just be sickening and very wrong… and Nott doesn't really exist, so he shouldn't be counted either, unless you want to make him exist. Can you even do that?

G- Of course, I made Blaise exist, didn't I? So, Malfoy or Snape… possible… _:starts to think about possible futures (hard work):_ Right then…

* * *

Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.

* * *

In order to keep a true perspective of one's life, one must own a dog to worship him, and a cat to ignore him.

* * *

Almost a day had passed since his little _chat_ with Dumbledore, and Harry had finally come up with a workable plan. Unfortunately it didn't involve a nail file. However, it did involve a piece of parchment, four permission forms, a quill, ink, and an owl. Preferably not Hedwig, though. And hopefully he wouldn't need a lawyer.

After having dinner, Harry sat in the library with all the necessary parts of his plan, except for the owl, because Madame Pince would probably yell his ear off if he brought one in. He looked around to make sure there weren't any distractions waiting to happen, then started to write.

Harry read over his letter, and decided that it was good enough, with a nicely small amount of bribery and good deal of threat. He quickly tied it up along with the four permission slips he had gotten from Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration. He then pulled out his wand and spelled the notes with a couple of charms he had looked up that would make them impossible for anyone apart from his aunt to read, and another to make them Portnotes, which would make them reappear to Harry when they had been signed.

Once he was convinced that the spells were working, Harry packed up his belongings and left the library to head for the Owlery. As he stepped inside, he was startled by the amount of noise in the large Owlery. All the birds seemed to be having a lovely little chat amongst themselves, though little may not have been the word for it.

Hedwig flew down to Harry and landed on his shoulder, and he stroked her head before giving her an owl treat.

"Sorry girl, but I'm not going to use you today," Hedwig hooted and nipped his ear rather hard. "I would like to use you, but it's a letter to the Dursleys."

Harry was immediately forgiven, and his snowy owl would have commented on his good foresight if she could talk to him. As it was, she couldn't, so she settled for nipping his ear gently in apology and flying back up to her rafter. He walked over to one of the other owls and quickly tied the letter to it's leg, telling it not to wait for an answer before sending it off.

Harry looked at his watch, he cursed when he realised that he _still_ hadn't gotten a new watch and yet kept on putting on his broken one. Quietly casting a spell to check the time, he cursed again when he found that it was already past curfew.

Quickly, Harry made his way out of the loud Owlery and transformed into a dark tabby cat, silently slinking back up towards the Gryffindor tower. Halfway there he decided that he didn't particularly want to go back there yet, and changed his direction, heading towards the Astronomy tower, hoping that he wouldn't see any people out snogging each other senseless.

The teenager had almost made it to the tower when he ran into someone unexpectedly. Mrs Norris. Bugger. The other tabby cat looked at him suspiciously, knowing instinctively that he wasn't a normal cat. She was about to leave and find her Argus, when the other cat stopped her.

'_Stop, please._'

She did, but she still looked suspicious. '_What are you, and what is your business here?_' the cat demanded.

Harry was surprised that he could understand Mrs Norris, although, Sirius had said that he had been able to communicate with Crookshanks. He just hadn't thought that the escaped convict had meant _talking_ to Crookshanks.

'_I am really a human, and I am going up there to think,_' Harry told the tabby.

Much to his surprise, the cat started to make a strange noise that sounded a bit like laughter mixed with a purr. The bloody cat was laughing at him! '_This is a funny surprise, I wasn't sure if humans _did_ think. They certainly don't seem to, what with all the students wandering around the castle with no protection from the teachers or from the Dark side._'

'_The Dark side? There are Dark people in the castle?_'

'_Of course. Not very often, but there will occasionally be a Dark shadow above a human. I know not what it is, or what it means, but it is there and none of them even notice it. Humans are blind,_' Mrs Norris sniffed distastefully. '_Now, I will give you one chance to tell me why I shouldn't report you to my pet human._'

Harry went on a hunch. '_You would not betray a fellow cat to your human, would you? I may be a human most of the time, but I am still a feline at heart, otherwise I would not be able to take this form._'

Mrs Norris nodded her head slightly in a most human fashion of acknowledgement. '_I see that you are most perceptive. For a human that is. I shall keep my pet away from you up here, from now on, all you need do is request for this. I have a good feeling about you, so I shall do this. Goodnight._'

With that, Mrs Norris padded silently down towards the dungeons. Harry blinked owlishly, then slowly walked up to the top of the tower and checking to make sure that nobody was around before switching back into his human form and sitting on the edge of the tower, wondering if a strong gust of wind would push him off…

-

Petunia Dursley was bored.

No, not merely bored, she was bored to the extremity, and was thinking about how truly boring her life was.

Petunia had just finished her lunch, and was still sitting at the table trying to think of something that she could do. She couldn't do any housework, because she had already finished cleaning every last speck of dust from the immaculate house, and she had finished burning the mattress that had previously resided in Dudley's second bedroom, plus anything else that the freak might have touched (except for the floor, but that was being re-carpeted next week). She couldn't go out shopping, as she had done that yesterday and there was nothing to do in Surrey _but_ shopping or the movies, but the only movies showing now were dumb action films.

Of course, there was always the zoo. Ha, yeah right.

Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever (which was quite rude, but that isn't the point), a large, brown owl flew in the open window, dropped a letter into Petunia's open mouth, then flew back out the window before she could retaliate.

Petunia quickly spat out the small envelope and looked around the room then out the window, checking to see if anyone had been around to see the owl fly into her house. She was thankful to note that there were no other normal people outside, and most certainly none but her inside the house. The woman scrunched up her nose at the thing, and chucked it down on the kitchen bench, turning and stalking from the room. Turning on the television, she sat down on the lounge to watch a show.

Fifteen minutes later, after flicking through all channels and finding nothing interesting on, Petunia went back into the kitchen and stared at the letter. The horse-necked woman knew that she wouldn't be able to throw it out, she was way too nosey and curious to do that. And the damned thing kept on bugging her. Who was it from? Probably that bloody Dumbledore guy, asking them to take in the ungrateful freak again.

Sighing, Petunia opened the envelope, pulling out the letter and began to read it.

_Dear _Aunt_ Petunia,_

_I am writing to you to let you in on a few things that may be beneficial to your physical and mental health. First, let me just tell you that if I don't get a reply to this within two days, then I shall be sending in a fleet of owls in the middle of the day when there is sure to be someone to notice them coming in to your house. Wouldn't that be simply horrifying?_

_Now, I need you to pick me up from Kings Cross for the Christmas holidays. Dumbledore is making me go back. Don't worry, I will not be staying with you for long, I just need you to drive me for a few miles so that I can make sure that Dumbledore and Voldie don't have anyone following me. Then I will leave and hopefully never see you ever again. The only other thing I need you to do is sign the two permission slips that have been included in this letter._

_Before you rip this letter into shreds and wonder why I ever thought you would possibly do something to _help _me, god forbid, let me just warn you about something. If you don't do these three simple things, what you have done to me for my entire life will make it seem like you always gave me nice, fluffy, stuffed animals for Christmas, and gave me pizza for dinner every night compared to what I will do to you, your husband and, your son._

_That in mind, I am sure that you will see the benefit of helping me just this once, lest I rip out your intestines and use them as skipping ropes. I've never actually had the chance to skip before, that's something I missed out on when Dudley threatened the entire school if they played with me, you know. No I don't suppose you do, do you? _

_Just one more thing, Dudley is not nice or good, and frequently bashes up other kids in the neighbourhood, although I suppose that he can be forgiven as having bad influences. Plus, he is _fat_, and if you don't make him go on a proper diet and make him stick to it, it is very likely that he will die. Actually, never mind, I didn't just tell you that, just tell me when his funeral will be, I would very much like to gloat._

_Don't bother trying to tell anyone else about this letter, as nobody can read it except for you, and as soon as you sign the permission notes, the letters will disappear. And write down if you are going to pick me up or if I will have to wait until the Order takes me there then try and get past their guards._

_Harry_

_(Your nephew, just in case you'd forgotten)_

Petunia blinked in shock.

However she had expected the freak to act, it had certainly not included any threatening. Or anything very coherent either, for that matter. After all the beatings, trying to remove the magic so that their family would be safe, she had thought he'd at least be to afraid to talk to them, but apparently, that wasn't the case.

Petunia re-read the letter, noting that the Dumbledore wizard was trying, once again, to force the boy on them. Well, that wasn't going to happen on her watch. Taking out the other four notes, she grabbed a pen and wrote a short note on the letter at the bottom, then signed the four permission forms that were in the envelope. The strange thing was that two of them were copies of the other two. Weird freaks.

Then the letter disappeared in a flash of light.

-

Harry was startled backwards when a flash of blinding light appeared in front of him in the Gryffindor common room. Realising what it was, he quickly grabbed the letters that appeared and raced up into his dormitory, closing the door behind him and checking to see if anyone else was around. None of the others were in the room, so he sat on his bed and read the short note at the end of his own letter.

_Fine. I'll meet you at Kings Cross, but you'd better be leave before we get to Privet Drive or else you'll be in for it._

_Petunia._

The boy looked down at the other letters and broke out into a huge grin. He had two signed copies ofboth the Hogsmeade permission and the permission form to go to Serenade's School.

Picking up two permission forms, Harry quickly walked down towards Dumbledore's office, humming a random happy song, and once again he didn't notice the gargoyle just hopping out of his way.

Still humming, he walked into the headmaster's office after knocking once on the door. Noticing the headmaster sitting at his desk, he walked over and smiled evilly at the old man.

"There you are professor. Two lovely, signed permission forms so that I can go to Hogsmeade and Serenade's School."

Dumbledore looked shocked, and he obviously hadn't suspected that Harry would go around him and get signed forms from his aunt and uncle. "How did you get these?" he demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I sent them to my aunt and she signed them," he explained slowly, as though to a child.

Dumbledore frowned. "It would be best if you did not go outside the wards, Harry, as I'm sure you realise."

Harry felt his good mood begin to waver. "No, sir, I don't. You can not make me stay inside this school, I have permission. If you do, then I shall complain to the ministry, and you can see what they make of it. I don't really want to get you fired, sir, but I will if that is what it takes to gain my freedom. You have no power over me going out unless I break the rules, which I haven't done recently," there was no need for him to know about his late night wandering. "This is how Sirius got killed, by being locked up, not being able to escape… as I'm sure you realise."

The old man sighed, and peered over at Harry in defeat. "Very well then."

The boy's good mood returned, and he grinned again before turning and walking to the door. As he was about to walk out, he suddenly turned to face the headmaster as though something had just occurred to him. "Oh, and professor?"

"Yes Harry?" the man asked wearily.

Harry paused, then smirked in a manner most like Malfoy and said one word that made Dumbledore's blood run cold.

"Checkmate."

* * *

**Author's Note**

YAY! I finished the chapter! Yay for me! And there was much rejoicing!… umm… ok then.

G- Sorry about the wait for this, but I was having problems getting onto the computer and the internet… the bloody thing just decided to go spaz on me… grrr… Thanks to my reviewers; charl1e, Argaildax, Fangfoot, Garnet Runestar, CommaSplice, and Hissy Fit, plus all of my previous reviewers MaraWeaves, JeanMarie, monica85, Hannah Abby, and Serenla.

A- _:appears in puff of smoke: _She is also sorry for the two quotes at the start, because she couldn't decide between them so just decided to put in two. Isn't she hopeless?

G- OY! Be quiet, you don't even exist! Hmph!

K- _:also appears in smoke puff:_ And she is also also sorry for the fastness of this chapter if you think it was fast… right then.

G- _:sighs and pouts:_ How am I supposed to convince everyone, including myself, that you don't exist if you keep on popping up and talking?

A K- You don't! And remember:

PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. All The Sweet Talk

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter Six: All the Sweet Talk**

Rated PG13… still

Summary: Will Harry get over his abuse? Will Harry ever get these new powers that could drive him insane? Like me! Will the readers ever find out who the DADA teacher is? And will the Goddess ever tell the readers what the Elemental Guardians are? Stay tuned for the next episode of… wait! this _is_ the next part… never mind.

Warnings: Mentions of abuse unless I decide to actually get around to writing some. Slash. And all around weirdness.

Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. But not for long… _:looks at other internet screen:_ come on luck, stay with me this once. Ebay. You can seriously buy anything on it. Including the rights to Harry Potter. Chapter titles are from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love And Money. Has anyone actually heard that song apart from me? _:goes back to other screen:_ GAH! NO! _I LOST_! DAMN DISCLAIMER DISTRACTIONS! _:bursts into tears:_

G- _:sniffle:_ So close… yet… so far… Anyway, due to popularity (meaning two people have mentioned them in reviews) my shoulder angels officially exist!

A- _:appears in puff of smoke:_ Yippee! I exist! Now, for an evil plot! Er, I mean… On with the story?

G- Excellent idea Adrianne! In fact, I think it's the best one you've ever had! Which isn't saying much, I know, but oh well.

A- -- Does anyone mind if i kill fanfiction. net?

G- Nope. Not if they keep with the getting rid of my smile faces! AND my extra enters! stupid site...

* * *

_Harry Potter sat on a wall,_

_Harry Potter had a great fall,_

_All of Dumbledore's women and men,_

_Couldn't put Harry together again._

You can tell that i was bored, can't you?

* * *

_  
Harry looked around the dark room, watching his twelve most faithful and loyal Death Eaters stand perfectly still, waiting for him to tell them what to do. So very loyal of them._

_Harry realised that he was once again in Voldemort's mind, and somehow he knew that the murderer didn't know that he was there this time. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. And he trusted his gut instinct. How unusual._

"_My most trusted Death Eaters, do you know why you are here today?" he asked innocently. Or as innocently as a slightly insane, homicidal Dark Lord could._

_One of the members of the inner circle stepped forwards and bowed before speaking. "My Lord, we know not why you have called us here to you today."_

_Voldemort pondered this for a second before obviously deciding that the Death Eater had a death wish. "No, you wouldn't, seeing as I have yet to tell you," he said, sounding slightly irritated, though he didn't curse anyone. Yet. "But this is good, as it means that Wormtail has yet to leak this information because of his _weakness_," he sneered at the cowering rat next to his throne._

_Harry shrugged at this (or would have if he'd had shoulders of his own), the idiot rat had probably done something stupid that had Voldie pissed off. His Gryffindor stupidity would get him killed one day. Hopefully._

_Voldemort started to speak again in his raspy voice, which actually seemed to be getting better. Maybe he'd just had a cold. Harry snorted with laughter (inwardly of course) at the thought of the great Lord Voldemort being struck down with a cold. Maybe he even got a red nose to match his eyes._

"_Have any of you heard of the Tablet of Elements and its Elemental Runes?" all of the Death Eaters nodded. "Good. I have found one of these runes, the Rune Daughter Incendia, and the rest are needed, as is the Tablet. It is your job to find them for me, you who I trust above all others. There are a few suspected places for these, and you will each find a partner and search for one of the other Runes, or the Tablet. The information will be given to your pair when there are no others around. Now, I am certain that you are all able to arrange yourselves into pairs, I will see to it that you get the information shortly. I wish to have these before the end of the year. Do not fail me or the consequences will be_…dire_."_

_Voldemort smirked at the Death Eaters and sent them away. It must have taken him a lot of effort to not curse one of them just for the fun of it. Then he turned on Wormtail and Harry knew that he wouldn't be having a pain-free time of information gathering after all._

"_Wormtail, you remember our little conversation from before, don't you?" the snivelling man nodded, cringing, and Voldemort sneered at the small; and yet, still chubby, lump before him. "Very good. CRUCIO!"_

Separation line- please use your imagination Separation line- please use your imagination

Harry woke up biting his tongue to keep himself from screaming. He had gotten quite good at not making a sound after a vision when he was at the Dursleys. It was either that or he was punished. Even more than he was anyway.

The first thing on his mind was something that couldn't wait all day. He was going to have to interrogate Hermione for information on these Elemental runes and tablet. And see if either Blaise or Malfoy knew anything about them. They were the most likely people to know this sort of thing. Malfoy because of his pure bloodedness, Blaise because she knew all sorts of obscure facts that nobody else would bother with, and Hermione because she was … well, Hermione.

But that would have to wait for a while at least, seeing as it was only four in the morning. Harry knew that he wouldn't get to sleep again, so he got up and changed into his uniform before sneaking silently downstairs and out of the portrait hole. Walking away down the corridor, he came to a corner and just as he was going around he switched into the same tabby cat as he had done for the past few nights.

On his way to the Astronomy tower he passed Mrs. Norris, who just nodded her head slightly at him and padded off in the other direction.

As he sat on the edge of the tower, Harry watched the moon slowly setting.

Feeling rather depressed, he wondered if it was worth it, if he shouldn't just give up and let go.

After all, it would be so easy. So incredibly easy. Impossibly easy.

So much easier than seeing it through. He was going to die anyway, whenever Voldemort decided to unleash and evil plot. Why not just save him the effort?

But each time he left the tower, going back to the Gryffindor Common rooms and pretending that everything was alright. That everything was normal. Wasn't it ironic that the only people who had notice this were Slytherin's? His supposed enemies?

The burden, the memories, the expectations. All just seemed easier to deal with when he was up here, free of people. Well, most people. There was the occasional teenage couple who wandered up past him on their way to a snog session somewhere else in the tower.

That's when Harry would feel his loss keenly, realise that he had no real family, and that nobody could love him like that, if it was because they were just in it for the fame, or if they didn't see the real Harry, the one underneath the brave Gryffindor hero. And as he realised this it would bring him closer to the edge.

But, just as every time before, he would leave the solitude of the tower because of his responsibility. Damn his loyalty. Damn the stupid prophecy. Damn his being to stubborn to let Voldemort win. Damn it all.

So Harry sat, hovering on the edge of the wall around the Astronomy tower, thinking all these depressing thoughts, facing the lake and watching the setting moonlight flicker across the dark water of the lake. He still wondered if the wind would finally push him over.

_I wonder if that was what Humpty Dumpty was thinking_…

Harry smiled ironically and for some reason started humming the nursery rhyme to himself, remembering the times when he would sneak upstairs and listen to his aunt sing to Dudley when he couldn't sleep. As surprising as it may seem, Petunia was actually quite a good singer; meaning she didn't sound like she did when she talked.

Harry sensed something move behind him and turned his head sharply. Leaning against one of the walls was a shadowed Professor Snape. _Shit,_ Harry thought. _Stupid Humpty Dumpty, this is all your fault_…

"Um… Good evening Professor?"

"It's morning, Potter," the potions master said dispassionately.

"Yeah."

"Just what exactly are you doing up here at four in the morning, Potter?"

"Er… thinking?" _Technically I was up here to think_…_ he doesn't need to know _what_ I was thinking about_…

"Amazing. Now go back to your dormitory before I give you a detention. And ten points from Gryffindor for being out after curfew."

Harry swung his legs over wall and jumped to the floor, before quickly walking down the stairs from the tower, thinking about the strange encounter. Very strange. Possibly against the laws of nature. Perhaps Snape was sick…

When he got to the common room, Harry sat in one of the chairs close to the fire, and waited there to ambush Hermione when she came down.

At five thirty, Hermione came down from her dorm looking fresh and neat (it wouldn't last, her hair behaved itself in the morning usually, then got gradually frizzier through the day) and instantly spotted him. With a worried look, as none of the boys got up this early unless it was an emergency, the Gryffindor girl sat down in the next chair.

"Good morning Harry."

"It is morning, not so sure about the 'good' part of it though, Hermione."

Hermione frowned. "What happened?"

"Do you know anything about the Tablet of Elements or the Elemental Runes?" he asked.

Hermione got a thoughtful look on her face, as though she was mentally reviewing every book she'd read. "It sounds familiar, but I can't place it… why?"

After hesitating for a second, Harry told her the dream.

"The Rune Daughter Incendia… Rune Daughter… Argh! It's so familiar, I just can't remember!"

Hermione had the look that was generally seen only when she was thinking up a plan of attack, which was most likely to be search through every book in the library for even the slightest bit of information. And she would take him with her.

Harry groaned when he realised what he had unleashed.

Hermione sent Harry up to get his books, then dragged him to the library, which opened at six for people who left their homework until the last minute. When they arrived, the evil book-loving Gryffindor pulled the poor defenceless Harry around and gave him a section to check.

At about seven, when Harry and Hermione were almost buried in a pile of books, the door to the library opened and he saw Blaise walk into the library dragging a reluctant Draco Malfoy behind her. The Gryffindor stood and snuck away from Hermione to cling onto Blaise instead.

"Blaise! Rescue me from the scariness that is the studying Gryffindor woman!" Harry whispered.

Blaise giggled and dragged him back to said Gryffindor.

"I believe you lost this, Granger," she told the other girl.

"Traitor!" Harry declared, making both girls laugh, and Malfoy roll his eyes.

"Sit down, Harry," Hermione ordered. "You're the one who wanted help."

"You just had to remind me."

Blaise blinked, confused. "What are you studying? _Why _are you studying? It's only the first week of term!"

"The Tablet of Elements and the Elemental Runes," Harry whispered.

"What? Why? Those are supposed to be dangerous," Malfoy said.

"Do you know what they are? Please tell me you do, save me from the wrath of Hermione's study plan…"

"Ah, not really, I just know that they're dangerous."

Harry bashed his head with his hand.

"Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!" Blaise said, jumping up and down with her hand in the air. "There's information in that old book… um…'_Ye Olde Booke Of Majik_'!"

"God no!" Harry pleaded.

"Oh, it's not that bad, Harry. The book magically updates it's language based on current times, which is a relief or I would be searching it for days!" Hermione said, pulling out a book that was a bit thicker than '_Hogwarts: A History_'.

"More light reading?" he asked her.

"Yes, actually, it's quite exciting. There is so much information on the old magics, it's all rather intriguing…"

She obviously didn't note the sarcasm.

"Yes, well, I'll just…"

"What?" Hermione asked distractedly, pulling open the dusty volume.

"I'll just leavethatwithyouthenokbye!" he said and raced out of the library.

No matter how much he liked to read, Harry would never sit in the library to read anything other than a Quidditch book, he would rather be outside near the lake. The musty atmosphere in the school library reminded him of the Cupboard under the stairs. Oh, look. He was even giving it a capital now.

Slowly, Harry made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast. By the time he arrived at the hall almost half the school was there already. Sitting down next to Ginny, he listened to conversations on Homework (_"How could they? It was the first day!"_), quidditch, and general gossip.

"Hey Harry, how are you?" Ginny asked when she noticed him, and worriedly checked him over.

"M'fine. Just a bit tired, having trouble sleeping," he replied with a smile.

After chatting with Ginny for a while, Harry left for the first lesson of the day. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Come to think of it, he never heard Dumbledore tell them who the new DADA teacher was.

Last year, the Defence teacher tried to poison Harry, but made a mess of it when he gave it to Dobby. When the elf realised what it was, he served it to the teacher instead. Whilst the Defence teacher was delirious from the first effects of the poison, he admitted he was trying to poison Harry. And so, once again, Harry didn't survive the year without the DADA teacher trying to kill him. Poor Harry.

When he got to the class, he saw that the seats were set in the same order as before. Hermione was already there, still reading the book, and Harry went down to her.

"Hey, Hermione. Are we going to keep the same seats?" he asked.

"Yes, I think we should. Neville seems to be doing better with constant partners instead of just whoever is unlucky enough to be the last person into the classroom," she replied.

There were three people to a desk, and so Hermione and Ron had teamed up to help Neville, while Harry went and sat on what was generally referred to as the Slytherin side with Blaise. Ron had thought he was barking mad, and he still didn't like Blaise, neither had he struck a truce with Malfoy, despite Hermione's attempts to knock some sense into him. Harry had known it was a hopeless case as soon as the red head had made up his mind.

Walking over to where Blaise and Malfoy were, he asked if they were keeping the same seating arrangements too, which they were.

When the bell rang for the class to start, the teacher walked in and stood in front of them. She was rather tall, with shoulder length light brown hair tied in a ponytail, hazel eyes, and reasonably tanned skin.

"Good morning class, I am Professor Hatheway, your Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," she said with a smile.

Harry relaxed, maybe they would have a sane teacher this year. He then saw the professor glance over at the Slytherins, and her gaze turned as frosty as any of Professor Snape's. _Then again, maybe not_…

His second theory was proved right when their teacher called the roll. When a Gryffindor's name was called, she would smile warmly at them, but when a Slytherin was called she would glare at them as though they weren't worth the air they were breathing. When she called Harry's name she scanned the traditionally Gryffindor side of the room, and when he called out to her she looked startled to see him sitting next to Blaise.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing over there?" she asked, seemingly confused.

Harry blinked. "Um… listening to you call the roll?"

"No, why are you sitting on that side of the room?"

"As far as I know there aren't any rules against it. And Blaise is my friend…"

"You're friends with a Slytherin?"

"Yeah… so?"

"But you're a Gryffindor!"

"Is that important?"

"I should hope so! One such as yourself should not associate with people like them!"

Harry blinked in amazement. _One such as myself? People like them? Ok, so they're antisocial, and sometimes evil, what's the matter with that?_ "What's wrong with it?"

The teacher was obviously expecting him to take her word for it, agree, and move back to the Gryffindor side. Flabbergasted (A/N, isn't that a funny word?), she stared at him as though he had grown another head.

"Well, they're Slytherins! You're a Gryffindor!"

"Has it become illegal and nobody bothered to tell us?"

"No, but I should think you would have more common sense than that!"

"Actually, we Gryffindors don't seem to have a lot of that."

Professor Hatheway obviously decided that the last comment didn't deserve an answer, and so turned away from Harry and continued reading the roll, glaring even harder at the Slytherins now.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was hardly what one would call tolerable.

Hatheway was worse than Snape. At least he was nasty to most people, including his Slytherins on occasion. But Hatheway was ridiculous! When a Gryffindor got an answer wrong they gained ten points for trying. When a Slytherin got an answer wrong they lost ten points for wasting her time. And when Harry got an answer wrong… well, he didn't know yet, because he didn't get any answers wrong.

At lunch, Harry and Hermione protested to the unlistening ears of the other Gryffindors that she was behaving worse than Snape. But even the most stubborn Gryffindor (A/N, cough Ron cough) had to admit one thing.

Potions class was going to be hell when Snape found out about this. Absolute Hell. With a capital H. And maybe a few exclamation marks…

* * *

**Author's Note**

G- YAY! I finally finished the chapter from hell! So sorry about the wait, but I couldn't seem to get past the tower section, my mind just went blank…

A- Isn't your mind always blank?

G- NO! _:Starts chasing Adrianne to bash her with a blow-up baseball bat:_

K- Ok, seeing as the Goddess is, er, otherwise occupied, I get to reply to the reviewers! Firstly,  
**Gebersdatum**: Harry is special. We're going to explain more about that later in the fic. We have it all planned out. Cough. Thanks for the bracket tip, I went back through this chapter looking for brackets to change, but most of them were comments added by the Goddess as random thoughts… Wait! She thinks! Why didn't I get that memo!

G- HEY! _:changes direction and chases Katlyn instead:_

A- _:pauses to catch breath:_ Yay! Now I get to reply to my precious… er, I mean, _our_ precious reviewers!  
Thanks to **LiLy MaLfOy 13**, **charle1e**, **SolitaryPoison**, **Thanatos** **Nemesis**, **Fleetfoot**, **)(PF)(**, **Shadowed Rains**, **me2shae, **and **kvk** (plus all previous reviewers) for all of your wonderful reviews! I love reviews!  
**MaraWeaves**: Glad you liked my Runespoor, he's going to make a reappearance sometime. And is there really characterization? I think that the Goddess keeps changing the way the characters think and react, but anyway…**  
MayaBlackWolf**: It's probably going to be Harry/Sev, because we love Severus! Yay for Sev! But it may be a Harry/Draco and Harry/Sev, or possibly a Harry/Sev/Draco, if we can do it… But there is definitely going to be HPSS slash.

G- _:finishes thwacking Katlyn with blow-up bat and rejoins Adrianne:_ Oh! I get the last reviewer reply! KK…  
**Gldnlqr**: I'm not sure if I can do a Harry/Draco/Sev, but I will try, I may decide it's total crud and scrap it, but I will try… I have a question, How have I been making Harry out to be, I honestly have no idea!  
Ok, Hogwarts is going to be closed for the Christmas holidays when the wards are being reset, and the seventh year students are going to SSPM on Halloween for a week.  
About the shoulder angels, Adrianne is the Evil one, Katlyn is just an annoying know-it-all who thinks she the best cause she's Good. They like to gang up on me, and me and Adrianne like to gang up on Katlyn.  
Hermione and Ron are just not as attentive… They haven't noticed anything wrong with Harry, so he feels more isolated from them. Blaise and Draco notice because they're used to masks, but Hermione does notice… Eventually.  
Nobody except for Harry and Mrs. Norris know about his animagus ability, though a few more will find out. Not the Order. Anyone in the Order who finds out is on Harry's side.

K- That has got to be the longest answer to a reviewer that I have ever seen.

G- _:squeals in delight and runs in circles:_ I have a stalk… er, 'Regular Reviewer'! YAY! That means someone is delusional enough to like me! WOO HOO!

A- And there are return reviewers! YIPPEE!

G- I have decided that I am weird. Somehow I managed to go from being silly, to melancholy in this fic within two seconds of writing. Oh well. All right, I have a mission for all my readers. Should you choose to accept, you need to press that little button down at the bottom of the screen. That's right, the one that says 'Go'.

REVIEW AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF MY FIC!

I like reviews, they help me stay inspired to write. Inspiration is good.

OH NO! I don't think I've mentioned a Nail File in this chapter! Did I mention one in the last chapter? Or in the chapter before that? This is an urgent question! Please review and tell me! It's a matter of life and death!

K- Just in case you were wondering; Yes, this is a gimmick to convince you to review. So PLEASE do!


	7. Make A Better Man

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter Seven: Make A Better Man**

Rated PG13 and does anyone else think that the new system for rating fics is weird?

Summary: I have a plot. I swear I do. I know it's here somewhere… Oh! I found it! When the Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT takes over Hogwarts, it's up to Harry Potter to save everyone from their doom… No, wait! That's not it! Umm… oh, here we go; Harry gets powers that could drive him insane, which he hasn't gotten yet, and won't get until sometime around Christmas. The Elemental Guardians _still_ haven't been mentioned, but the Elemental Runes and Tablet of Elements have, so that'll do. Hermione will explain later.

Warnings: Slash. Bad language. Abuse mentions. More slash. And I seem to have a love of long A/Ns at the start and end of chapters…

Disclaimer: Until… er, I mean _unless_ JKR gets threatened to be fed to starved lions with Evil Files of LIKITYSPLIT attached to their heads if she doesn't hand the rights to Harry Potter over to me, then HP is said author's. Not mine. JKR's. Do I look like JKR to you? I do look like a Goddess though, so feel free to worship me!

A- Why would anyone want to worship you?

G- Because… (dramatic pause)… I'm worth it…

K- Yeah right!

G- Ok, fine, I'm not, but that is totally beside the point… How about… because I give them free bags of candy when they worship me?

A- But you don't.

G- Shhh! Don't tell them that! I need more Evil Minions, I only have one and a half. Even some Good Minions would be helpful!

A- Why don't you just write the story like you're supposed to?

G- FINE THEN :p

K- Just in case anyone was wondering, apart from me that is, this starts on Thursday night, in the common room. We got kinda lost when we were writing this, so if we can, we're gonna put in the days as much as possible.

* * *

Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly, it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come. - Jack Handey

_

* * *

_

_Previously on_ Rhapsody of Harry Potter:

_Potions class was going to be hell when Snape found out about this. Absolute Hell. With a capital H. And maybe a few exclamation marks_…

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP --

"AHA!"

The entire Gryffindor population in the Common Room, which was most of it, turned to stare at Hermione. The witch turned red when she realised that everyone was staring at her thanks to the unusual outburst.

"Hem… er, Harry? Could you come here please?" she asked innocently.

Harry cautiously walked up to his friend, wondering what she was going to do to him. "Yeah?"

The poor Boy-Who-Lived was instantly grabbed by the wrist in a rather harder than necessary grip and painfully pulled out of the Common Room and into the Head Girls private dorms.

"Ok, first of all; _ow!_" Harry said when she let go of him, and he sat down on one of the elegant cream coloured lounge chairs she had in her room. "Secondly, why did you yell out 'AHA!' in the middle of the Common room and then drag me up here?"

Hermione had an excited look on her face and quickly showed the page of the very, _very_ thick book she had been reading for the entire day. Then, Gryffindor's resident bookworm went into lecture mode… Poor Harry. What did he ever do to deserve this?

"The Tablet of Elements, otherwise known as the Traba Elementum, is one of the oldest artefacts known to man. The Tablet of Elements is, however, only the key to unlocking the power of the Elemental Runes. These are supposedly the bound forms of the Elementals, the Rune Mother Terra, Rune Child Aer, Rune Daughter Incendia, Rune Lady Unda, Rune Maiden Levitas, and Rune Queen Glacies," she lectured him. "Releasing them is possible with a rather long and complicated ceremony involving blood binding the Elementals to the caster. Each Elemental then choses a host who will help them protect their releasor, and each of these people will gain control of an the element that their Elemental has power over. Not much more is said in the book, except that only one person has been known to release the Elementals and that they returned to their Rune state after the person was mortally wounded by an angry Flobberworm and died."

Harry just looked at her blankly. Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"The six Elementals; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Lightning, and Ice, are released from their rune forms with the help of the Tablet of Elements and a blood binding ceremony. The person who releases them gets help from the Elementals, who give their power to them and some others, and they only go back to their rune forms when the person who released them dies. That simple enough for you?"

"Thanks. Now, wasn't that easier to say?" Harry asked.

"Not really…"

Harry suddenly latched onto something Hermione had said before. "He was killed by angry _Flobberworms!_"

"Doesn't sound very likely, does it?"

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP --

On Friday, Harry had two free periods, which he spent lying in and recovering from summer. It was amazing how little sleep you would get when you were in a great deal of pain.

The only lesson he had that day was Care of Magical Creatures. Another of the great mysteries in life was why he had taken that class… Oh, well…

When Harry arrived at Hagrid's Hut for Care of Magical Creatures, he found the half giant looking around the Runespoor cage on the ground, and all of the class that were already there were looking rather worried about something. When Harry arrived Hagrid looked over at him with relief.

"Harry! Thank Merlin you're here. Er, there's a slight problem with the Runespoor…"

Harry looked suspiciously at the cage and saw a bit of the cloth covering it sticking up. Through the small space where the hole was, he could see that the door of the cage had a large dent in it, big enough for the reasonably small snake to escape from. When he realised what had happened, he started to chuckle lightly.

"They finally escaped did they?" he asked Hagrid amusedly. The rest of the class looked at him as though he was a loony, but that's beside the point.

"Er… yeah."

"_FOR THE LAST TIME, WE ARE NOT GOING INTO THAT HOUSE!_" came a shout from the other side of Hagrid's Hut.

Harry followed the voice until he found himself standing behind the arguing Runespoor that had tried to escape. Pity they couldn't agree on anything.

"_I am the planner, _I'll _decide where we go!_"

"_It's a bit late for that,_" Harry told them, and they all turned around, ready to strike.

It would have looked more intimidating if the Runespoor hadn't bashed it's heads together in the process.

"_Now look what you've done! The speaker has found us!_" cried the third head.

Really, Harry was going to have to ask them their name (or names) soon.

"_Look you three, if you want to escape you should do it at midnight, or when people are asleep, not in the morning or the middle of the day. It is just common sense,_" Harry told them, before realising that he really shouldn't be giving them escape information. "_Why do you want to escape, anyway?_"

"_You have seen inside that metal monster, have you not?_" asked the critic.

"_We just want to live in warmth and have a place to call home that will not constrict us!_" the dreamer went on.

"_Ignore him, he is an idiot,_" the critic told Harry.

"_Ignore him, he is a bully,_" the planner said with a sniff (can snakes even sniff?).

"_Um, right_. _Look, how would you like it if you could come with me?_" Harry asked them.

"_You mean to live with you in your den?_" said the planner thoughtfully.

"_Yes, if I am allowed._"

"_I think that would be a good plan,_" the planner said slowly.

"_I am going to side with him on this,_" the dreamer said with a glazed look which strangely reminded Harry of Luna Lovegood.

"_I don't know about going with a human, but I shall give you the benefit of the doubt for now,_" the critic said suspiciously.

Harry crouched down next to the runespoor and let it slither up his arm and come to rest over his shoulders.

When Harry walked back over to the class, Hagrid had already started the class and everyone was already there when he came up behind them.

"Ah, I see ye found 'im, Harry," Hagrid said when he saw him with the runespoor.

Ron turned around to see Harry behind him. "Where were you m- ARGH!"

Ron nearly fell over when he stepped away from Harry as fast as possible as he came face to face with a three headed snake. The three heads were suddenly united for once in their lives in their opinion of Ron, and they all cracked up, hissing their amusement at the redhead's face.

Harry also chuckled when he saw Ron's expression, which then changed to anger at seeing his supposed best friend laughing at him.

"Sorry, Ron, but you should have seen your face," Harry said before snickering again.

Actually, Harry wasn't sorry, he was indifferent to the redhead's feelings, but he didn't want anyone to realise that, so he apologised.

"Yeah, whatever," the redhead mumbled, and the class turned back to the lesson.

When the bell rang for the end of the lesson, Harry walked up to see Hagrid about the Runespoor.

"Hey, Hagrid!"

"Thank Merlin ye found 'im Harry! I was worried sick abou' the poor baby!" Hagrid said.

"_I AM NOT A BABY!_" all three heads yelled at once, once again united in their quest to seem intimidating.

It would have worked if they didn't start doing the snake version of a pout.

"Aww! Aren't they adorable?" Hagrid cooed.

"_I AM NOT ADORABLE!_" they all hissed, once again in unison. Anyone would think they had practiced it.

"_Intelligent, yes,_" said the planner.

"_Dreamy, certainly,_" the dreamer continued.

"_And the most handsome bugger you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting in your entire life, most definitely,_" was the added compliment to themselves from the critic.

"_But_… _WE ARE NOT ADORABLE!_"

Harry coughed to cover up his laughter. "Er, they said they're not adorable."

"_Damn right we're not!_"

"_Thank you for that,_" Harry replied, trying to shut them up. "Right, um, they were wondering if they could come and live in Gryffindor Tower, they don't really like the cage, it's too cold, and they like moving around more than it permits them."

Hagrid looked disappointed. "Oh, alrigh' then, it's fine by me. Bu' I expect them ter come visit me!"

Harry smiled softly. "Don't worry Hagrid, I'll make sure of it."

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP --

"_We are going to sit by the fire!_"

"_No, in the sun by the window!_"

"_The sun's going to go down soon, we should get comfortable by the fire!_"

"_But we can see the wide expanses from the window!_"

"_I don't agree with either of you! Of course, that's just because it's my principal to not agree with either of you, and I actually think we should settle by the fire_…"

Harry sighed. "_Look, how about I conjure a small fire and place it near the window?_"

All three heads turned to look at him.

"_Really?_" asked the planner. "_That's a good idea! We'll do that!_"

Harry thought for a second before deciding on another course of action. Actually, it was more from the stares he was getting from his house mates than anything else.

"_How about I take you up to my dorm and make you a bed on the window sill?_"

"_Yes, that's good too!_" said the planner.

Harry stepped forwards and picked up the runespoor, carrying him up the stairs to the dorm. He placed the snake down on his bed before going through his trunk and taking out one of Dudley's newer yet really, really, _really_ large t-shirts and placing it in a heap on the window sill, before conjuring up a small blue fire, the same one as Hermione used in first year he recalled, and placing it in a transfigured glass dish. Then he picked the runespoor back up and put him on the shirt.

"_Ah, blessed warmth,_" the dreamer sighed.

"_Before I forget, what can I call you?_" Harry asked them.

"_Oh yes! Call me Sev, no need for long fancy names,_" the planner said.

"_Sevvie,_" the dreamer said with a sigh.

"_Sever, it is such a good name for the only one of us who is not a sissy,_" the critic told him.

"_HEY! I AM NOT A SISSY!_" yelled Sev.

Harry shook his head. Thank Merlin they had to sleep sometime. Suddenly a terrible thought occurred to him.

'_What if they're nocturnal!_'

Harry groaned.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP --

Fortunately for Harry, the runespoor was not nocturnal.

In fact, he slept like a log. No, not like a log, more like a… rock. (A/N, Hee hee, a stoned runespoor! … I'm not a loony, I swear!).

Harry, on the other hand, found that once again he couldn't sleep, and got up from his bed for another moonlight stroll to the Astronomy Tower to contemplate whether there was a god. And whether the fall from the tower would kill him or just hurt like hell. He was betting on the latter option.

Whilst he was sitting on the ledge pondering the meaning of life, the universe, and everything (you may or may not note the sarcasm), he once again felt someone come up behind him.

"'Thinking' again, Mr. Potter?"

Harry could even hear the quote marks around the word thinking.

"Of course, Professor Snape," Harry replied, without turning to his right where the professor stood.

Amazingly, all the potions master did was lean against the wall, looking out at the stars. At least someone used the Astronomy Tower for its original purpose.

After a few minutes of silently staring, the professor spoke again, without turning around.

"You could fall, you know."

Harry smiled grimly. "I know."

Another minute later, Harry spoke again.

"I don't think it would help, though."

"Falling?"

"Yep."

There was once again silence, though this time only for a few seconds.

"What do you mean?"

Harry swung his legs back around and jumped to the stone floor. Pulling out his wand from a holster on his right arm, Harry conjured a small, sharp dagger, then pulled his left sleeve up his arm a bit. He noticed his professor start forwards, then stop, and Harry smirked slightly.

"Don't worry, I'm only going to cut my hand. I just didn't want to get blood on my robes," Harry told him, then muttered quietly to himself. "Not after I just got all the other bloodstains out."

Snape's eyes widened. "What?"

'_Shit, he wasn't supposed to hear that._' "Not after I just got all the food stains out, you know, from that mini food war Ron, Seamus, and Dean were having at the Welcoming Feast?"

"Right," he said suspiciously, and Harry was sure that it wasn't the last he'd be hearing about it. But what can you do?

Harry deftly sliced the palm of his left hand, a bit deeper than he'd meant to, but that didn't matter much, then he vanished the knife. After a minute of waiting Snape was very confused.

"What has this got to do with falling to your death from a tower?"

"Hang on a minute, you'll see," was Harry's reply.

About a minute later, Professor Snape certainly saw what slicing his palm open had to do with jumping off a tower. Along the cut, several small green sparks of magic travelled up and down, sealing the cut, though the blood was still there. Snape stared at Harry's hand in amazement.

"Huh, I've never seen it do that before," Harry mused. "Ah, Professor? Don't suppose you have a rag or something that I could use to wipe the blood off?"

"What?… oh, here," he said and pulled a convenient piece of cloth from a pocket in his robes, handing it to Harry.

"Thanks," Harry said as he wiped his blood from his palm. "Um, do you want this back?" he asked staring at the bloodied rag.

"Not really, no."

Snape gently grasped his left hand and studied the palm of his hand as though it was a potion he had never seen before. There wasn't a mark there, not even a scar.

Harry pulled back his hand then turned around and left, only pausing and turning back to the surprise professor to say one thing.

"Please don't tell anyone," he said softly. "Goodnight professor."

Ok, two things, but that's beside the point. Then he left his thoughtful professor to his musings, wondering why he could still feel his hand tingling where the man had touched it.

When he got back to his dorm, he got into his bed, then conjured another knife and sliced his hand again. This time it took longer to heal. And there were no sparks of magic.

How interesting.

**

* * *

Author's Notes**

G- Finally! This chapter was having fun disagreeing with me!

A- Well, disagreeing with you is actually quite an amusing thing to do.

G- I'm going to ignore that.

K- Good for you! You have finally worked out those anger issues.

G _:eye twitches: _You want to say that again!

K- _:shrinks:_ Meep!

A- Hem, hem!

G- AH! Where is the Umbitch! Wait, that's an insult to dogs… Oh well, where is she! And where's the Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT! _:runs around looking for the EFoL:_

A- Right… Thanks to **RU2**, **insanechildfanfic**, **Primavera-Tiempo**, **crazy-lil-nae-nae**, **Sarta**, **me2shae**, and **Shuu** for reviewing and your lovely comments! I'm so happy!

K- **MercuryAcidandWater**, don't worry, the Goddess is obsessed with slash, this will definitely be a slash story!

G- **MaraWeaves**, I wonder the same thing sometimes, hope the last little meeting made you less pissed off with Severus. I wonder why some people always refer to him as Snape, and some always refer to him as Severus… I can never decide… thanks for your support on Hatheway! I was worried about her…

**Gldnlqr**, You were the only person who did my challenge! You should feel special, as I now award you with your very own Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT award _:hands over trophy: _Thankfully, the file made a comeback this chapter! Hermione will be more important later on, and hyper is always good!

K- You would say that.

G- _:glares:_ And now for a very important announcement… I, as an Evil Overlord… I mean Evil Goddess… I mean… never mind. I now have five and a half Evil Minions, and one Evil Advisor! Positions are open if you want a spot in my Legion of Terror (yes I have been reading the Evil Overlord List)… (which is also not mine).

A- Not much of a legion, is it?

G- Be quiet! I write really long A/Ns at the end, don't I? Anyway, apart from me being about to murder because it keeps on deleting my smile faces and pretty designs for separating lines which I really hope someone will fix sometime soon _:eye twitches:_

PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. Feel The Darkness Rise

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter **

**Chapter Eight: Feel The Darkness Rise**

Rated PG13 or T. Pick one, it doesn't matter.

Summary: Harry gets powers that could drive him insane, I do actually have the powers all picked out and ready for him. The Elemental Guardians have _finally_ had a mention, although I did forget to put in the word Guardian a couple of times. A story in which Harry finally has someone important notice his abuse. Amazing!

Warnings: Slash. Bad grammar. Abuse mentions cause I'm too lazy to write a scene. Slashy goodness soon… hopefully. Long ANs.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP. I poke my tongue out at all you evil lawyers trying to find innocent people on the internet who forgot to put up a disclaimer for a story and then plotting to sue them.

G- Ok, I have a VIQ.

K- A Very Important Question.

G- What happens to Harry on Halloween in fifth year? Something must happen to him, cause it always does. JKR can't just stop the flow of it in the middle of the series, can she? Also in HBP… It's been two weeks since I read it and I've already forgotten what happens in half of it _:rolls eyes at self:_. An EFoL award to anyone who answers!

A- That's important?

G- YES! I need it for one of my chapters!

A- That makes sense. Unusual for you.

G- _:sighs dramatically:_ Everyone's against me. Right, I skip a day here, I think, and it starts on Sunday night.

* * *

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.

_

* * *

_

Previously on Rhapsody of Harry Potter:

_When he got back to his dorm, he got into his bed, then conjured another knife and sliced his hand again. This time it took longer to heal. And there were no sparks of magic._

_How interesting._

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Late Sunday Night

"Do you come up here every night?"

Harry turned around to see his Potions Professor looking at him curiously.

"No," he answered honestly. "I wasn't here last night."

"I see."

The two of them were silent for a while. They were probably the strangest pair in the world to see on the top of the Astronomy tower. As well as the most opposite. Harry sat on the edge of the wall, slightly hunched over and gazing out at the Forbidden Forest with a brooding expression. Yet Snape stood against the wall staring up at the stars seemingly carefree. Kinda strange when you thought about it.

"Why do you come up here?" Snape asked him suddenly.

Harry pondered that for a while. In fact, he pondered so long that it seemed Snape had started to think he wouldn't answer.

"You know, the funny thing about silver platters is that most of them are really just steel. You'd think that they would call them steel platters, but I suppose that's not as fancy, is it? You would think that a silver platter was simple, that it was just a platter. You think that it can't get any better, it can't get worse, because it's simply a platter made from silver. Then one day, that rug's pulled out from under your feet and you find that your expensive and fancy silver platter is just plain old, cheap steel. What's even worse than that is everyone around you keeps on thinking that the platter is silver, and you know that it's pointless to try and convince them otherwise, 'cause they'll just persuade themselves that you are too young to know anything and ignore your protests completely. So then your alone with your cheep steel platter, and nobody will help you get a new silver one," Harry said in a distant voice, managing to sound much like Luna Lovegood.

Snape just stared at him, trying to decipher what the hell Harry had just said. Well, Harry thought that it was confusing enough to keep him busy for a while and not have him figure it out.

"You aren't going to tell me any more than that, are you?" he asked with a sigh.

"Nope, and you're lucky I'm tired, or I wouldn't be telling you that much."

"I figured."

"Well then, I'll just be going now," Harry said, jumping down from the wall. "Goodnight Professor."

"Night," the man replied distractedly, and Harry smirked at having him reply, as it was the first time he'd done so.

When Harry got back to his dorms and into his four-poster bed, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow. The last thought that went through his mind was to wonder why he always got to sleep easier after he'd been talking to his professor…

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Monday Morning

The next morning found Harry up earlier than most people in Gryffindor, and so he was the only person up to be sitting at Gryffindor table alone. Deciding that he didn't feel like sitting alone today, he got up and sat down next to Luna Lovegood at the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey Luna."

"Hello Harry. How are you feeling?" she asked in a slightly distracted voice.

Harry seemed to have a knack for talking to distracted people.

"I'm fine, Luna, how are you?"

"I'm good. The teachers haven't given us as much homework this year. I think they may have been taken over by Creentals, don't you?" she asked him.

"Sure Luna," Harry said, used to her strange ideas. "You know more about them than I do."

"I also know about you, Harry, and I can tell that you are not fine, no matter how much you may say that you are," she said, her eyes focussing on him and loosing the usual vacant look to one of intelligence.

Harry tilted his head to the side, and looked dispassionately at Luna. "But you won't tell anyone unless I tell them first, will you." It was more a statement than a question.

Luna smiled at him. "Of course not, that would be rude."

Harry simply smiled back and started eating the breakfast that had just appeared on the tables.

"Hello Harry!" Blaise said, bouncing down to the Ravenclaw table, dragging Malfoy behind her. Honestly, Harry didn't know how she had become a Slytherin.

"Hey Blaise," he replied with a smile. "Draco."

Malfoy arched an eyebrow at him. "Since when were we on a first name basis?"

"Since now."

Draco blinked at him. "Okaaaay then… Morning Potter. Lovegood," he nodded his head at Luna in acknowledgement.

"Good morning Draco," Luna replied innocently.

Draco just sighed and sat down next to Blaise, who had taken it upon herself to join Harry at the Ravenclaw table. "This is all your fault, Potter, making me associate with people from other houses."

"Come now, Draco, you can say my name," Harry cajoled.

"Yeah, Draco," Blaise added. "It isn't that hard, there are only two syllables; Ha-rry. Or would it be Har-ry? There's something to ponder on a rainy day…"

"Fine. Harry. There, are you happy now?" he asked, scowling at them all.

"Yup," Blaise replied with a grin. "Ooh, pancakes!"

Blaise was then completely distracted by the sight of the pancakes, and started to load them onto her plate before smothering them in maple syrup. Harry, Draco, and Luna were all united in wondering how she became a Slytherin.

"So Harry, how was your weekend?" Blaise asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I heard something about you being mad at the Weasel," Draco said. Blaise kicked him under the table. "OW! What was that for!"

Blaise rolled her eyes. "Duh! You don't say anything specific, you wait until he replies to the question first. If he just says something like 'it was alright, how was yours', _then_ you… well, then you reply to his question, but after that you start with the interrogating. How did you get into Slytherin?"

Draco blinked. "Blaise. You are weird."

"Why thank you," she preened.

"That wasn't a compliment."

"It was to me."

"Are you two together?" Luna asked them in her distant voice.

Draco and Blaise looked at the Ravenclaw as though she was insane. "You have got to be kidding!" they both exclaimed in unison.

"Him/Her!"

Then they both burst into laughter. Luna just smiled dreamily and ignored them.

"Hey, Harry, your guards are looking for you," Draco sneered when Hermione, Ron, and Ginny walked into the hall.

Harry sighed and stood up. "See you, I'm off to avoid the Gryffindors."

"Aren't you a Gryffindor too?" Draco said with a raised eyebrow.

Harry smirked at him. "Technically."

Then he walked around the edges of the Great Hall, expertly blending into the shadows, and they lost sight of him, but assumed he got out of the hall by the fact that the three Gryffindors were still looking for someone five minutes later.

"How the hell does he do that?" Blaise asked in awe.

Draco suddenly realised something. "Or more to the point, how the hell did he just avoid our interrogation!"

Blaise blinked at him, then turned and ran out of the hall, with Draco close behind, screaming…

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! GET BACK HERE!"

Back at the Ravenclaw table Luna smirked to herself.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Late Monday Night

"It has something to do with Dumbledore, doesn't it?"

_Merlin damn it, he's bloody smart_… "What does?"

_That's right, play the dumb Gryffindor_.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, _Mister_ Potter," Snape replied softly.

Harry sighed. Stupid meddling Slytherins. "He has a little to do with it."

"It also has something to do with your home life."

"My home life is fine," Harry replied truthfully. He considered Hogwarts his home.

"Your relatives?"

Harry was silent. He didn't like to lie if he could avoid it. Of course, that didn't stop him from lying, he just… preferred not to if he could help it.

"Ah, so it is something to do with them."

"How did you know that?"

"Potter, you have always come back to Hogwarts looking worse for the wear, though these last two years have been worse. I'm going to assume that you aren't going to tell me anything, however, so I will not press you for information."

Harry just stared at him for a moment, wondering if his Potions Professor was drunk or something. Then he smiled softly.

"Thanks," he whispered.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Tuesday Morning

"JUST LEAVE IT ALONE RONALD!"

"Shh! Be quiet Ginny!" her brother tried to placate her, neither of them noticing Harry walk down into the common room from the boy's dormitories.

"_I will not be quiet! How could you think that of your friend! And go around spreading rumours like that!_" Ginny yelled at him, looking rather a lot like her mother at that moment. Not that anyone would be stupid enough to tell her that.

Harry got a sinking feeling when he heard that.

"Well it's not just me! He's been really quiet lately, not talking to people if he can avoid it, hanging out with _Slytherins_. He's even been talking to that stupid Runespoor with an ability he knows is only used by Dark people, to a creature kept only by Dark people. Plus he's been sneaking out late at night sometimes and-"

"THAT'S IT! RONALD ARTHUR WEASLEY, YOU STUCK UP PIECE OF SHI-"

"_Shut up Ginny!_"

"NO! YOU LISTEN TO ME! _Did you ever stop to think that maybe he might just want some peace and quiet! _NO! I BET YOU DIDN'T! Now you just listen Ronald Weasley, not all Slytherins are evil! Not all people who talk to snakes are evil! Not all Runespoors are owned by evil people! And just because Harry sneaks out at night sometimes _doesn't mean he's evil!_ They're all just _stupid _stereotypes made up by stupid, _jealous _people. Except for the last one, which is just made up by one stupid, jealous person. Don't think I haven't seen you sneaking out to go snog some useless bint in a broom closet!" Ginny glared at him, then said in a deadly quiet voice that was even more scary than her yelling, "_Do I make myself clear?_"

Ron was nearly pissing his pants in fear of his little sister, but, like the stupid git who doesn't know when to back down that he was, he just went redder than his hair and yelled at her. "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

"_JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU USELESS WASTE OF AIR! AND IF I HEAR ANY OF THOSE RUMOURS AGAIN THEN I'LL BE HUNTING YOU DOWN LIKE THE JEALOUS LITTLE WEASEL YOU ARE!_"Ginny screamed at him, then stormed up the stairs into her dormitory.

Ron just stood there stupidly staring at the entrance to the girls dorms. "FINE!" he yelled at her, after trying unsuccessfully to come up with a suitably witty retort.

"_GOOD!_" Came the reply from up the staircase, before a door was heard slamming shut.

"URGH!" Ron growled to himself, before he stomped gracelessly out of the portrait hole, stubbing his toe on the overhang and swearing to himself as he stamped down the corridor.

Harry came forwards from the shadows he had been concealed in and sat down in one of the armchairs decorated in a horrendously bright red.

"Well that was interesting…"

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Slightly Later, Tuesday Morning

That morning, Harry's first class was NEWT level Transfiguration, which, thankfully, Ron hadn't gotten into.

"Good morning class," Professor McGonagall greeted them as she walked into the classroom. "Just as a reminder, all seventh year students wishing to attend the Serenade School of Performing Magics' excursion will need to attend a meeting this afternoon after last period in the Great Hall. Anyone who has not handed their permission form by tomorrow will not be going unless there were unavoidable circumstances leading to your lack of permission form. And yes, Mr Finnegan, the meeting is compulsory, as you will be receiving important information for the trip."

Seamus' raised hand was grudgingly put back down.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Tuesday Afternoon

That afternoon, every single one of the seventh year students gathered together in the hall. None of them would miss out on a week free of their classes. Especially Potions. All of the four Heads of Houses were gathered near the teacher's table, and the Headmaster stood with them.

Professor McGonagall stood at the front of the Great Hall motioning for the students, so they all walked quickly up to the front and congregated around her.

"Can everyone hear me?" she asked, and there were a chorus of affirmative noises from everyone. "Good. Now, you'll all need to be packed and ready to go by ten o'clock on the thirty-first of October. You will meet up with the supervising teachers and the other students in the Entrance Hall, and from there you will proceed to the carriages after getting your name marked off. The Hogwarts Express leaves the station at ten thirty _precisely_, and anyone not onboard the train will be left behind. That means no mucking about. Any questions?"

A few students raised their hands.

Hermione, on the other hand, bounced up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air, trying to get Professor McGonagall's attention. Harry just shook his head at his bushy haired friends enthusiasm.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"Who are the supervising teachers?" she asked seriously.

"Ah, yes. The two supervising teachers are Hagrid and Professor Snape."

A series of groans followed that comment. Obviously they had been looking forward to their Snape-free-week just a little too much. Professor Snape just smirked at them.

"Miss Brown?"

Lavender sighed in relief when she was called. "What are we supposed to wear?" she asked urgently, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

All of the teenage boys (plus Hermione and Blaise) barely restrained themselves from rolling their eyes. The rest of them stared at McGonagall as though their very lives depended upon the answer to that one question.

"Good… question, Miss Brown. You will be allowed to wear anything when you are on the train, however, when we arrive at the School you will be expected to be wearing your school robes," the teacher replied, trying to hold back a smile at the attention she was receiving from most of the girls for that single answer. "The rest of the time, it's the same rules as apply here at Hogwarts. Any more questions?"

The teachers were amused to note that where there had been about ten hands before, there was now a grand total of none.

"Very well then. When you are at the Serenade School of Performing Magic, you will be expected to be on your best behaviour. You will be attending their classes during this time, and you are to uphold the honour of Hogwarts the _entire time you are there_," McGonagall said sternly. "Finally, I will be calling out a list of those whose note's I have received. If you are not on the list, then you are not going."

Neville frantically waved his hand in the air to get the Head of Gryffindor's attention. "Professor! I sent my letter to Gran but-"

"Don't worry, Mr Longbottom. Your Grandmother thought it best to send the permission form straight to me," she said gently, alleviating Neville's worries.

Neville sighed in relief, not even considering to be offended that his Grandmother didn't trust him enough to send him a note to hand to a teacher. Hell, _he_ wouldn't trust himself to remember.

"If there are no more objections?"

Neville flushed pink and ducked his head in embarrassment. Professor McGonagall read the list of students from 'Abbott' to 'Zabini', and everyone was on the list.

Except for Harry.

After the students were dismissed, Harry calmly walked up to his Head of House.

"Professor McGonagall, I handed in my note, but my name wasn't on the list," Harry told her calmly. He had his suspicions as to just _where_ exactly it had been 'lost'.

The professor frowned thoughtfully. "I don't recall getting one from you…"

"Oh no, I gave mine straight to the Headmaster because he was after it. The professor frowned thoughtfully. "I don't recall getting one from you…"

"Oh no, I gave mine straight to the Headmaster because he was after it. You can ask him."

Dumbledore, hearing his name, turned around towards them and smiled benignly. "What can I help you with?"

"Mr Potter says that he gave you a permission note…?" McGonagall prompted.

"Ah, yes. I am sorry to say that I have inconveniently misplaced it, looked all over for it. I even had some House-Elves join the hunt. Unfortunately, you will need to have a signed permission form to leave the school, as it needs to be sent to the Ministry as proof. I'm sorry to say that you will be unable to get a form to your Aunt and Uncle in time, as we're sending the permission forms to the Ministry tomorrow so that it can get approved by the end of October. Unfortunately, this means you will not be able to attend the trip." It was amazing how he managed to get the right amounts of sorrow and remorse into all of the right places.

Harry clenched his jaw briefly, and unnoticeably, then relaxed and forced a calm smile onto his features. "That's all right Professor Dumbledore, I have another one." Dumbledore's sorrowful smile became slightly more forced than it had been before as Harry handed his spare permission forms to McGonagall, including his spare Hogsmeade form. "I got the idea from Neville, who usually gets two forms signed in case he looses one. So, no harm done, and I can go to the Serenade School of Performing Magic. Right Professor?" Harry said with a barely noticeable smirk.

"Yes, yes, Mr Potter. Good thinking," McGonagall congratulated him and added his name to the list of students going. "Now, I think it's time you go to your common room, it's almost curfew."

Harry nodded and said goodnight to the Transfiguration teacher.

On his way past the Headmaster, Harry paused slightly, facing away from the other teachers and not looking at Dumbledore. The man was playing a dangerous game. And losing. To a teenager.

"This isn't over," Harry said softly.

"I know," Dumbledore replied.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

G- WOOT! I finished the chapter and made it out alive and sane!

A- Well, the last part's debatable.

K- Now if she'd said 'alive and as sane as I've ever been', that would have been correct.

G- _:Evil Death Glare of Doom:_ I hate you both.

K & A- _:Innocent looks:_ We know!

G- _:mutters to self about annoying angels:_

A- And now for Review Replies! My fav part of the day is when we get reviews!

G- **Gldnlqr**, You will be pleased to not that I now have 9 Evil Minions, 1 Fairly Evil Random Person Who Is There To Look Good, 3 Evil Advisors (It's good to have an uneven number, and yes, you are one of them), and… hang on I have to get out my note of this one… Chief 2/3 Semi Evil Minion Who Is Mostly Devoted and Has Special Privileges. That's a mouthful, isn't it? My Legion is slightly bigger! Woot! Um… let's see… thanks for your praise of my story! And I have decided that I am totally not subtle in my attempts of naming the Runespoor… And it is _kind of _a coincidence.

K- **websurffer**, _:bashes head against conveniently placed table:_ I told them it was not subtle, but do they listen to me? Nooooo! Read the last line of Gldnlqr's review reply. As for your other question, see the note at the end.

A- Many thanks to our other wonderful, wonderful reviewers: **conner vegas**, **Melissa**, **brokentoy19**, **elementalmage2008**, **witchfire37**, **Sukera**, **elvengoddess696**, **insanechildfanfic**, **GreyGranian**, **Goddess-of-Death21**, **wadeva**, and **SolitaryPoison**. All reviews are greatly appreciated. It keeps us going throughout the days… _:dramatically wipes tear from eye:_.

G- _:Sweatdrops:_, ok then… Did anyone else find that the Sixth HP book seemed more like fanfic than the actual thing? Or was it just me?… oh well. Now I'm going to complain, so if you haven't read the book, please ignore this. _She made him evil :sob, it's so mean! He's my fav character along with Harry:bursts into hysterical tears: _;(

K- _:leads Goddess off to a place with a nice white jacket_…

A- Ok everyone, **this is important! IMPORTANT!**

**The pairing will be HP/SS _or_ HP/SS/DM** ok? Good, good!

Now for some questions (which are also important)(_ :cough:_): What exactly is a Mary Sue? I have seen it mentioned in heaps of places, and have a pretty good idea as to what it is, but I'm not exactly sure, so any clue would be good.  
Gldnlqr- Are you a guy or a girl? And what's shorthand, exactly? I've probably heard it somewhere and forgotten or something, but… _:whistles innocently:_

K- This chapter from hell is now finished! We like to hear peoples fav parts of the fic, so remember:

PLEASE REVIEW! FEED THE AUTHOR! DON'T LET POVERTY KICK IN FOR THE IMAGINATION!

See ya!


	9. Chap 8 point 5, Lack of Plot Bunnies

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter 8.5: I Seem To Be Suffering From a Lack of Plot Bunnies**

**This is Important **(so you know who to blame!)  
Disclaimer of Chapter: Just so you know, this chapter is being written by my friend Ashika, let's all give her a round of applause for helping me with my Pot… I mean Plot Bunny problem. _:Claps and cheers:_ YAY! I'd also like to mention that you should blame her for the lateness. **This is just a preview**, cause she hasn't written anything for a while and I don't know what she's planning or I'd write it myself. Sorry! I'll force her to finish it soon!... Either that or I will skip ahead to somewhere I have plot...

G- It has occurred to me that the teachers would be nice enough to give the students more than one week to decide if they wanted to go on a trip for a week to another part of the country. Also, I'm fairly sure that people's parents would appreciate more time to get the notes in, so I have added another 2 weeks in between. Plus this way I can get over my lack of plot bunnies easier. I have also decided that since I keep on confusing myself with dates, I'm gonna add dates in where the days are (and as an added bonus, it annoys Shikes).

K- Oh my god! When did she get a brain!

G- _:Evil Death Glare of Doom:_ That's Goddess to you!

K- Heh… heh… _:shuffles away from Goddess:_

G- Ok, I have another **VIQ**… or two. Does anyone know what colour eyes Luna has? All I've found is that they're pale. Also Ginny's eye colour? It probably says somewhere in the sixth book at least, but I'm not reading that again until I can't deny that it exists.

A- And that actually _is _important! She's gonna use it later on in the fic!

G- Yeah I hate you too. _: pokes tongue out at Adrianne:_

A- _:pulls out axe:_

G- Meep! _:runs and hides in bomb shelter specially designed to keep out axe wielding Shadow Angels:_

A- GET BACK HERE OUT YOU COWARD! _:charges bomb shelter:_

G- _:hides under table in bomb shelter:_

K- _:sweatdrops:_ I'm surrounded by idiots.

* * *

You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentothal.

* * *

_Previously on _Rhapsody of Harry Potter: (this annoys my friend, so I have to keep it (sorry if it annoys anyone else))

_On his way past the Headmaster, Harry paused slightly, facing away from the other teachers and not looking at Dumbledore. The man was playing a dangerous game. And losing. To a teenager._

"_This isn't over," Harry said softly._

"_I know," Dumbledore replied._

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Wednesday Morning (25th September)

Harry woke up with Ginny and Ron's fight from the week before on his mind. He still wasn't exactly sure how to react, seeing as Ron was stabbing him in the back. Again. After all, this wasn't the first time Ron had thrown a tantrum and he usually got over them. Eventually. Finally he had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't say a word to either of them. He'd just pretend that everything was perfectly normal.

Ginny, however, made this terribly difficult, as she would scowl and yell at Ron at the slightest thing he did wrong. Ron didn't help and now the two weren't talking to each other at all. No matter how much Hermione and Harry tried, they stubbornly refused to listen.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Thursday Night (26th September)

"It must be in the genes," Harry told Hermione, after they had both unsuccessfully tried to get the two to talk.

"I know that you blame Ron, but Ginny isn't even attempting to make things better," said Hermione neutrally.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you'd heard Ron," Harry muttered.

"Then why won't you tell me!"

"Ron will think I'm trying to brainwash you. He already thinks I'm evil."

"Oh for Merlin's sake Harry!" Hermione snapped, frustrated with everything, "I have my own brain! If you can't tell me, transfer the image into my mind."

Harry opened his mouth to reply, then paused to think, shut his mouth and just nodded his head in agreement. They had found this useful little spell the previous year when they were finding new spells for the reformed and renamed Defence Association.

"_Memorium Recalitus_," Harry incanted, making a complex movement with his wand and concentrating on the memory…

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
Some random time in the future, Harry has been getting letters from someone warning him about things and he's trying to figure out who.

"Hey, Harry?" started Hermione slowly.

"Yeah?" Harry replied very unenthusiastically.

"Do you think Moony could have written the letters?" she asked tentatively.

Harry gave her a mildly thoughtful look.

"Who's Moony?" Draco asked, confused.

"Is it like a moon thing?" Blaise asked.

Harry and Hermione ignored them. "I mean…" Herm began, "they were at Hogwarts together. All three of them. Moony would know too."

"Maybe," Harry frowned doubtfully.

"Can someone tell me who, or what, Moony is?" Draco asked again, more grouchily.

"I _did_," Blaise replied, "It's a moon thing."

"Harry, he can't be alive. He just _can't_ be," Hermione told him, as though there was no other possible explanation.

Harry just looked at her stubbornly, not wanting to believe anything.

"Oh for crying out loud! Who the hell is Moony?"

"A moon thing!"

Hermione finally turned and acknowledged Blaise and Draco. She gave him a sharp stone cold look. "Moony is Professor Remus Lupin, idiot," she told him in a very agitated voice. "If you can't sit here and keep your goddamn mouth shut, I'll snap your face in half! Got it?"

Draco nodded soundlessly, obviously remembering the incident back in third year. Blaise hid a smile by coughing into her hand.

Harry and Hermione got up together and left, leaving behind a very puzzled and hurt Draco and a very bright sunny Blaise.

RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP -- RoHP  
The day after some random time in the future

The following morning, Harry was feeling like crap. He dragged himself out of bed and made his way down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. He sat down next to Hermione, who was absorbed in a book, as usual. She looked up when Harry sat down.

"Morning Harry!" she said rather brightly.

"Mmph," Harry replied.

"O-kay then," Hermione said, a bit deflated, "what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Harry mumbled almost incoherently.

Hermione gave him a puzzled look but didn't say anything more, returning to her book. Harry ignored her and instead looked around tiredly. His eye caught the Slytherin table where Draco and Blaise would look at him and then start whispering together. He glared at them suspiciously and returned to his toast, nibbling at it half-heartedly.

A fluttering of hundreds of birds sounded and the owl post had arrived. Harry looked up to see owls of all shapes and sizes fly over his head. He was surprised when an eagle swooped down threateningly, nearly taking his nose off, and landed in front of him. Harry looked at the eagle cautiously to see if it would bite, then tentatively removed the letter tied to its left foot. He picked up a sausage from the platter in front of and pushed it at the eagle, who gobbled it up and then flew away – its feathers brushing threateningly at Harry's face. Harry abandoned his toast and looked at the envelope. It was plain except for the wax seal on the back that Harry didn't recognise at all. He slit the envelope open and read,

_How are you Harry,_

_I hope this letter finds you in good health. Just a follow up from my last letter – keep away from Snape. The greasy bastard. It's for your own safety, I'm sure you'll realise. You may think he's changed for the good but a leopard can never change its spots. Keep that in mind and keep your nose out of things that don't concern you. One on these days, that stubborn streak of yours will get you killed._

_Take care, Harry,_

_You-Know-Who _

_(No, not Voldemort, one of the Marauder's Four)_

Harry spat out his pumpkin juice, coughing and spluttering as the liquid went down his windpipe.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione asked, patting him on the back; a frown creased her brow.

Harry simply stared blankly at the letter in front of him.

"Harry?" Hermione prompted, expectantly.

"I got another one."

"Let me see that." Hermione snatched the letter out of his hand, her eyes rapidly scanning the letter. "Well?" she questioned, "There's nothing wrong with that. Apart from the getting killed part, it sounds perfectly fine."

"It's not that," Harry started, "It… it – "

"It what?"

"It sounds like, something Sirius would write," Harry finally forced himself to say.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

A – Oooh, what's gonna happen next? Actually, what's gonna happen before?

G – Who knows? Except Shikes of course. I'm really sorry about this, I only just realised how long it had been since I'd updated when one of the reviewers mentioned it to me!

Sorry for not having the chapter properly finished, but I have more written for future chapters so hopefully after this chapter is kicked forcefully out of the way then I'll start updating at a faster pace. As soon as chapter 9 is done I think I'll just skip to where the action is so that I can get rid of this Writer's Block!

Since I'm here, I'm going to use some _Shameless Self-Promotion_! Go read my other two fics; '_Death Eaters Will Do Anything_' and '_Effervescence_'! I'm not really happy with some parts of Effervescence, but oh well, that could just be my perfectionism. Or it could be crap. I'll never know unless you review _:hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge:_

**Griffen48035**:I would love to have you as an Evil Minion cause you reviewed and asked so nicely. As such, I have promoted you already to Evil Advisor (I swear it had nothing to do with one of them organising a revolt against me... though it was fun to demote her to Evil Speck of Dust! _:cackle:_). Oh, and I _love_ Stargate SG1! Best show ever! Teal'c looks odd with hair though. Just thought I'd mention that…

**Websurffer**: Yes… subtle… that's what it was meant to be… _:cough:_ I actually thought of a scene involving them and I just had to do it, so blame my muses!

**Chocolateisgood** (aka Rachel): Yeah! Keep on rebelling against disclaimers! And notice that you're on the list of reviewers, see!

**Brokentoy19**: Thanks, it's nice to know that my reviewers won't abandon me just cause they don't love the pairing! It always makes me happy when I get reviews, especially nice long ones, and feedback is wonderful.

**Gldnlqr**: Well, my CSEMWIMDHSP has an even longer name now, I gave her a promotion _:sweatdrops:_… I'm not even going to bother trying to think of what she's titled herself now. I know what you mean about people staring at you cause of Snape, most of my friends are more sad about Dumbles dying and they think I'm odd for caring more about the fact that he's evil. You mentioned shorthand in your profile at some point, and I know I've heard it mentioned somewhere cause a couple of months ago I was doing something and I saw it mentioned and I was like, hey that's where I knew shorthand from. Unfortunately I can't remember where it was anymore… When I was writing this I had something planned for Halloween and I thought, wait a minute what happened to him in the fifth book? I can't remember anything! I'm still trying to get over the fact that she broke the tradition! _:blushes: _Thanks for the compliments. Have I mentioned I love reading long reviews? And this is probably my longest review reply! Oh, and you get an Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT Award! Yay! _:waves flag:_

**the'moon'wolf**: … That's a very good question. I guess she could be high on life, but I don't really know. The characters have a life of their own!

**Erica**: _:blinks:_ You were the first person to pick up on that (well, either that or nobody else could be bothered telling me about it). I had the most spelling obsessed person I know pick through my fic and they didn't notice. Congratulations! _:waves a flag around:_ I shall reward you with an Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT Award for your efforts! When I go through and fix up everything I'll make sure to change it.

**Yugisweetheart**: No, as far as I have plotted Harry isn't turning evil, he's just not as… um… something. Well, he's just against Dumbles at the moment, not evil and certainly not with Voldie.

**Alwaysariyana**: I'd say that I'm probably not gonna do a three way, cause that'd be hard. Plus I'm sure that Draco would be tortured more if he was with someone like Blaise _:cackles evilly:_ …

**VeryDarkAngel73**: First, there will probably be more to the discussions, but I'm not quite sure what I'm gonna do (I really should plan these things out better). The action will probably be around the other way actually, because my friend is always telling me that I'm obsessed with Snape. There's nothing disturbing about it, cause I totally agree with you!

**harry potter goddess** (aka Alexandra, I know people): Ok… From your first review; see the start of Gldnlqr's review reply. Second; It's one word! And set in seventh (completely ignoring the sixth book as you can tell). Third; I did that on purpose! Not every fanfic writer does this to him, heaps of people love Dumbles. In fact, I like Dumbles but I also like a good Evil!Dumbledore story. Fourth; Because I'm the author of this fic XP! Five; thanks! Six; Blaise and Sever are awesome! I think they are my fav OC characters I've made up too!

Thanks to **Susan **(Hoorah! _:waves a flag around:_ You get an Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT Award!), **AidanPryde**, **Wilting Rose 08**, **Dragonbluepheonix**, **goddessa39**, **Sukera**, **rinariku**, **Decadere** **Angelo**, **Godchild13**, **Black** **Thornes**, **Amarine** **Nightshade**, **Unique** **Dark** **Rose**, **porcupineapple**, **Goddess-of-Death21**, **Goddess Of Fiery Tempers **(aka Bec. Look, I know you!), **LauraDee **(I know you too! I know Everyone! If you'd like I can give you a nice section with the Angels as a special guest star?), **sarah-sama**, **Black Phoenix of the Shadow... **and last, but certainly not least **Pickle-Kitten**!

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments and for confirming what a Mary Sue is! _:hands out cookies to everyone who answered: _If I missed you, be sure to review and complain about it!

Once again, I'm so sorry for the six month delay that just seems to keep getting longer! _:hides in corner:_ But at least I got the Review replies out to you!

See ya! (Hopefully soon!)


	10. Don't Know What You're Fighting For

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter Nine: Don't Know What You're Fighting For**

Rated PG13

Summary: Harry gets powers that could drive him insane… eventually. The Elemental Guardians will come into play... eventually. And Harry finds true love… _:everyone 'aww's:_… _Potentially_. _:evil grin:_

Warnings: Eventual slash… Potential swearing… Probable bad grammar… It's not my fault, I swear! Blame it on the English department! It's hardly my fault if all they've taught is Shakespeare, Chaucer, and themes! I really wouldn't mind actually learning something I'm gonna use! And the Canterbury Tales aren't even finished! What's the use of that! … I'm ranting, aren't I? Also, beware of the overuse of exclamation marks!

Disclaimer: Though it would be possible with my ultimate power, my Shadow Angels, and the Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT! I must confess that I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with the books- _:gets prodded by spear wielding lawyer:_… or the movies. Happy now! _:lawyer smirks:_ I hate you. _:pouts:_

G- _:looks at the readers staring up at her: _… I'm bored…

K- … _:sighs:_ …

A- … _:blinks:_ …

G- … _:crickets chirp in background:_ …

K- … _:sweat drops:_

A- … _:scratches neck:_

G- … _:watches lazily as readers glare and pick up rotten fruit:_ …

K- … What are they doing with that?

A- … They're gonna throw it at us…

G- … _:eyes widen as the readers judge the throwing distance:_ … Uh… You aren't really gonna throw that at us are you? … um, guys? _Guys_? _:readers throw rotten fruit:_ AAAARGH!

K- AAAAAAAAHHH!

A- NOO! SOS! HEEEEELP MEEEEE!

G, K & A- _:run into bomb shelter to wait out the reviewers:_

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If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

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_Previously on _Rhapsody of Harry Potter:

_On his way past the Headmaster, Harry paused slightly, facing away from the other teachers and not looking at Dumbledore. The man was playing a dangerous game. And losing. To a teenager.  
_"_This isn't over," Harry said softly.  
_"_I know," Dumbledore replied._

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Wednesday Morning (25th September)_

Harry woke up with Ginny and Ron's fight from the week before on his mind. He still wasn't exactly sure how to react, seeing as Ron was stabbing him in the back. Again. After all, this wasn't the first time Ron had thrown a tantrum and he usually got over them. Eventually. Finally he had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't say a word to either of them. He'd just pretend that everything was perfectly normal.

Ginny, however, made this terribly difficult, as she would scowl and yell at Ron at the slightest thing he did wrong. Ron didn't help and now the two weren't talking to each other at all. No matter how much Hermione and Harry tried, they stubbornly refused to listen.

Sooner or later someone was going to snap, and then the real trouble would start.

Even though Harry was angry with Ron, he firmly believed that family should love and support each other unconditionally. This belief came from his own relatives, as he knew that they were not his true family. After all, what family would treat one of their own the way they treated him?

But the Weasleys were a family, a proper family who loved each other. Harry didn't want to ruin that for them, even if it meant that he couldn't speak to Ginny or the others again. Harry sighed and looked at his watch, frowning at it for a moment. The watch still didn't work, why was he still wearing it? And why did he keep forgetting to take it off?

Shrugging, the boy cast a spell to find out the time, noting that he had two hours before anyone else would be getting up.

"Looks like I'm off to the tower again."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Thursday Night (26th September)_

"It must be in the genes," Harry told Hermione, after they had both unsuccessfully tried to getting the two Weasleys to talk for two days straight.

"I know that you blame Ron, but Ginny isn't even attempting to make things better," said Hermione neutrally.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you'd heard Ron," Harry muttered.

"Then why won't you tell me!"

"Ron will think I'm trying to brainwash you. He already thinks I'm evil."

"Oh for Merlin's sake Harry!" Hermione snapped, frustrated with everything, "I have my own brain! If you can't tell me, transfer the image into my mind."

Harry opened his mouth to reply, then paused to think, shut his mouth and just nodded his head in agreement. They had found this useful little spell the previous year when they were finding new spells for the reformed and renamed Defence Association.

"_Memorium Recalitus_," Harry incanted, making a complex movement with his wand and concentrating on the memory.

A fine mist of swirling colours appeared to stream out of his forehead and hovered in front of him. Making a symbol in the air, he said "_Transferatus_," and the mist flew over to Hermione to be absorbed into her own forehead. For a few seconds, the girl simply stood and watched the memory. Then her eyes flew open and she flung herself at Harry.

"Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry!" she sobbed into his shoulder.

Harry stood awkwardly as she hugged him, uncomfortable with the physical contact, though it wasn't unpleasant. He knew that Hermione wouldn't hurt him. The only fight they had gotten into was when she had been trying to protect him, though he was too stubborn to notice.

Harry patted her on the back. "It's alright Hermione; I'm not going to break down just because Ron was spreading rumours about me, no matter how cruel or untrue they are."

"I know Harry," she said, letting go of him and stepping back before a suspicious look came over her face. "How long has he been sneaking out at night to snog girls in closets?"

"I don't know, you'll have to ask Ginny."

Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I think I might do just that."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Later Thursday Night_

Harry stared out at the Forbidden Forest, watching as the trees swayed gently in the wind. Soon, he spotted something coming towards the castle from the direction of Hogsmeade. Squinting, he tried to make out the shape but it was too far away, though it was closing in fast.

When it reached to forest, Harry sighed in relief. It was just an owl. After a short wait, the tawny owl landed on the ledge next to the teenager and stuck out its leg for him to take the parchment tied to it's leg. _How strange_, Harry thought as he untied the letter. _I don't get letters from anyone after Sirius_…

Sighing, Harry opened the letter and began to read.

_Harry,  
__I hope you're doing well. How long has it been since we've seen each other? It seems like it's been years. Too many years. I sent this letter to you with a warning, you must stay away from Snape. He always has and always will be on Voldemort's side, so you can't trust him no matter what anyone tells you! Don't trust anyone but yourself!  
__Please take this into account when you're near him. He may be a complete git, but he's dangerous as well._

_Solemnly swearing that I am up to no good._

Harry swallowed. Surely it couldn't be…

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Friday Morning (27th September)_

Harry was innocently sitting down reading over the letter he had received when it happened.

"I'M GOING TO MAKE THAT BASTARD WISH HE WAS NEVER BORN!"

Harry's eyes widened as Hermione stormed down the stairs from the Girl's dormitories, muttering to herself. All he managed to catch was something about 'two-timing bastards' and 'Merlin damned bitches' before he decided that he definitely didn't want to know.

Unfortunately, he and Hermione had two completely different agendas.

"Have you seen a certain filthy, depraved, dishonest red-headed bastard skulking around?" she asked pleasantly.

Harry blinked. "Do you mean Ron?"

Hermione smirked evilly. Very evilly. "Yes, _him_."

Deciding that he wasn't going to stand between Hermione and her revenge, as well as knowing that whatever it was she was going to kill Ron for was probably well deserved, Harry pointed to the staircase.

"He's still in bed."

"Good," she said, with that same evil look.

Harry shuddered as he watched her stalk up the stairs. That was one woman you didn't want to get angry. Speaking of women you wouldn't want to get mad, Ginny calmly walked down the stairs, still dressed in her pyjamas. The teenager grinned as a loud crash came from upstairs, and a loud squeal was heard.

"I take it that Hermione has found Ron," she said as she sat down next to Harry.

"From the very manly squeal, I'd say so," Harry replied. "What did he do?"

Ginny's eyes hardened at the question. "You remember when Mione was dating Ron last year? Well, it turns out that he never went to meet _her_ when he was sneaking out for snog appointments."

"He was cheating on her?" he asked, shocked that anyone would be stupid enough to actually cheat on Hermione.

"Yup. Frequently. I just assumed that he was going out to see her, but she says that she never met him after curfew because they might be found and get detention."

Another crash came from upstairs along with the sound of shattering glass. Harry grinned.

"I hope he learns his lesson."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Thursday Morning the next week (3rd October)_

Hermione sat staring at her plate, thinking about the letter Harry had received the week before. After bugging him about what was wrong for almost a week, the boy had finally told her about the strange letter. Something was nagging at her about it, something wasn't right. No matter how much she wished it were, it couldn't possibly be _him_.

"Harry?" started Hermione slowly.

"Yeah?" Harry replied very unenthusiastically.

"Do you think Moony could have written the letter?" she asked tentatively.

Harry gave her a mildly thoughtful look.

"Who's Moony?" Draco asked, confused.

"Is it like a moon thing?" Blaise asked.

After her fight with Ron, Hermione had thought it would be a good idea to stay away from Gryffindor table for a while. When the Weasley had reported to the hospital wing, he had lost them fifty points for fighting with other students and another ten for not telling them who had attacked him. Though most of the Gryffindors knew that she had a good reason for hexing Ron, it was best that she kept a low profile for the time being. Hence the reason they were sitting at the far end of the Slytherin table, as far away from the teachers and Gryffindors as they could get.

Harry and Hermione ignored the two Slytherins. "I mean…" Herm began, "they were at Hogwarts together. All three of them. Moony would know too."

"Maybe," Harry frowned doubtfully.

"Can someone tell me who, or what, Moony is?" Draco asked again, more grouchily.

"I _did_," Blaise replied, "It's a moon thing."

"Harry, he can't be alive. He just _can't_ be," Hermione told him, as though there was no other possible explanation.

Harry just looked at her stubbornly, not wanting to believe anything.

"Oh for crying out loud! Who the hell is Moony?"

"A moon thing!"

Hermione finally turned and acknowledged Blaise and Draco. She gave him a sharp stone cold look. "Moony is Professor Remus Lupin, idiot," she told him in a very agitated voice. "If you can't sit here and keep your goddamn mouth shut, I'll snap your face in half! Got it?"

Draco nodded soundlessly, obviously remembering the incident back in third year. Blaise hid a smile by coughing into her hand.

Harry and Hermione got up together and left, leaving behind a very puzzled and hurt Draco and a very bright sunny Blaise.

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Friday Morning (4th October)_

The following morning, Harry was feeling like crap. He dragged himself out of bed and made his way down to the Great Hall to eat breakfast. He sat down next to Hermione, who was absorbed in a book, as usual. They had decided that they could finally go back to sitting at the Gryffindor table, though Hermione should still keep a low profile. She looked up when Harry sat down.

"Morning Harry!" she said rather brightly.

Ron had finally been kicked out of the hospital wing that morning and nothing had been done to punish her as he had refused to tell the teachers just how exactly he had gotten his… er, _injuries_.

"Mmph," Harry replied.

"O-kay then," Hermione said, a bit deflated, "what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," Harry mumbled almost incoherently.

Hermione gave him a puzzled look but didn't say anything more, returning to her book. Harry ignored her and instead looked around tiredly. His eye caught the Slytherin table where Draco and Blaise would look at him and then start whispering together. He glared at them suspiciously and returned to his toast, nibbling at it half-heartedly.

A fluttering of hundreds of birds sounded and the owl post had arrived. Harry looked up to see owls of all shapes and sizes fly over his head. He was surprised when an eagle swooped down threateningly, nearly taking his nose off, and landed in front of him. Harry looked at the eagle cautiously to see if it would bite, then tentatively removed the letter tied to its left foot. He picked up a sausage from the platter in front of and pushed it at the eagle, who gobbled it up and then flew away – its feathers brushing threateningly at Harry's face. Harry abandoned his toast and looked at the envelope. It was plain except for the wax seal on the back that Harry didn't recognise at all. He slit the envelope open and read,

_How are you Harry?  
__I hope this letter finds you in good health. Just a follow up from my last letter – keep away from Snape. The greasy bastard. It's for your own safety, you know. Dumbledore may think he's changed for the better but a leopard can never change its spots. Keep that in mind and keep your nose out of things that don't concern you. One of these days, that stubborn streak of yours could get you killed._

_Solemnly swearing that I am up to no good.  
__Take care, Harry,  
__You know who._

Harry spat out his pumpkin juice, coughing and spluttering as the liquid went down his windpipe.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Hermione asked, patting him on the back; a frown creased her brow.

Harry simply stared blankly at the letter in front of him.

"Harry?" Hermione prompted, expectantly.

"I got another one."

"Let me see that." Hermione snatched the letter out of his hand, her eyes rapidly scanning the letter. "Well?" she questioned, "There's nothing wrong with that. Apart from the getting killed part, it sounds perfectly fine."

"It's not that," Harry started, "It… it – "

"It what?"

"It sounds like, something Sirius would write," Harry finally forced himself to say.

"It could also be something Remus would write," Hermione countered, then seeing Harry's face continued, "Look Harry. Sirius is dead. You're just going to have to accept that. Nothing you do can bring him back."

"You're wrong," Harry muttered stubbornly. "It has to be him!"

"HARRY!" Hermione yelled.

The Great Hall fell silent and many people turned around to look at Hermione and Harry from their tables, trying to see where the noise was coming from. Hermione cringed and blushed in embarrassment. So much for keeping a low profile…

Harry turned around and met Blaise's eyes, who nodded in understanding. At the Slytherin table, she started talking loudly, "And then Draco fell in the lake…"

Hermione, still slightly red, lowered her voice and continued as if nothing had happened, "Harry, listen to yourself. You sound deluded and believing the unbelievable is not going to help anyone, let alone you."

"Well maybe I am deluded," Harry muttered stubbornly.

"Don't we know that," Hermione said waspishly. She sighed tiredly, "Harry I don't want to argue with you. The point I'm trying to make is that even though Remus hasn't exactly had much contact with you since Sirius got… well… you know. You need to accept that he cares just as much as Sirius did, and maybe this is his way of getting you to take things seriously."

"It's not the same," Harry said in a hollow voice.

"What's not the same?" Draco asked, slipping into the seat next to Harry. Blaise just stood there, doing a bad job of being inconspicuous. She was doing about as well as a flashing red light bulb would.

Hermione sighed exasperatedly, "What have I told you about interrupting people?"

Draco gulped and instead looked at Harry. Harry chucked the letter at Draco, which he caught and started reading. Blaise read over his shoulder. Suddenly Draco had and alarmed expression.

"You-Know-Who? As in the Dark Lord? What if it's another plot to kill you?"

"You sound like Moody," Harry told him dejectedly.

"You sound like you've been through a Dragon's nest a hundred times," Draco retorted, "What's wrong?"

"Just tired."

"Yeah," Blaise said happily, "and Draco's the world's nicest person."

Draco started to nod in agreement then realised what Blaise had said, "_Hey!_ I am too nice!"

Hermione interrupted them. "Harry? What does it mean by 'Solemnly swearing that I am up to no good'?"

"Who's doing what now?" Blaise asked curiously.

"The person who wrote the letter swears that they're up to no good," Draco replied.

"Oh. So why are they arguing about it if the person is out to get Harry?"

"Surely you know," Harry said to Hermione, missing Blaise and Draco's conversation.

"Humour me," Hermione replied impatiently.

Harry shot Hermione look. "The password for the Marauders Map."

"Exactly," Hermione said triumphantly, "The Marauders. And they were?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. What has this got to do with anything?"

"Everything. There were _four_ of them, but two are dead. Meaning that there are still two people it could be," Hermione pointed out.

Blaise and Draco stared at her blankly before the blonde had a flash of inspiration. "Wormtail? Isn't that Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yeah!" Blaise said with wide eyes, "He's like Voldemort's lapdog."

Harry's eyes widened in realisation as the impact of their words hit him. Harry voiced his thoughts, "Him? Why would he even write to me? Let alone warn me about anything?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Life debt, remember?"

Harry had a steeled closed off look in his eyes. Hermione stared at him intently, while Blaise just continued to look highly confused. Draco rolled his eyes at her, while listening intently to the conversation.

"No." Harry replied firmly.

"When Harry says no it means no," Blaise said knowingly.

"Funny thing about the word 'no'," Draco said sarcastically.

"Oh come on Harry!" Hermione hissed.

"You heard Blaise," Harry told her, "No means no."

Hermione gave Harry a look that said she was about to get violent. Draco inched out of the way. Hermione got out of her seat and snapped her book shut.

THWACK!

Hermione slapped Harry around the head. Hard. Then the girl turned and stormed out of the Great Hall in anger.

Harry stared after her in shock, raising a hand to his cheek where a large red handprint was already forming. Draco winced in sympathy, knowing how hard the bookworm could hit. Blaise, however, looked rather unsympathetic.

"She is right you know. It's infinitely more likely that it's someone who is alive, even if that person is supposed to be your enemy," she said wisely.

"But I…" Harry trailed off. "You're right. She's right." The teen grinned slightly. "But then again, she's hardly ever wrong. She is Hermione after all."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Friday Night_

"I'm such an idiot," Harry sighed as he once again stared out at the forest.

"So I have been saying for the past six years."

Harry whirled around to find his Potions Professor standing beside him. "Do you have some sort of alarm system that tells you whenever I'm out here?"

"No. It merely happens that we both appear to be insomniacs who have nothing better to do than stare out from the top of an Astronomy Tower every night," the man replied.

Harry shrugged. "It helps me think."

The two sat, or stood, in silence for a while before Harry decided to tell Snape about the letters. They did concern him, after all, and Harry didn't believe that Snape was evil and trying to kill him. If he was, the man could have simply pushed him off the tower at any time.

"I've been getting these letters… they're basically warning me about you being a Death Eater," Harry started, noticing that Snape tugged on his left sleeve when he mentioned that, but there was no other sort of recognition. "I _know_ they're from Wormtail, Hermione convinced me of that, but still… It sounded so much like…"

Snape turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "Black?"

Harry sighed once more. "Yes."

The Professor was silent for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "As much as it pains me to contemplate what went on in Black's mind, if he was alive then I have no doubt that he would not simply send you letters. He would drag himself back here to see you, bringing whatever fleas he happened to be carrying with him, even if it meant that he would be captured once again and taken back to Azkaban."

A tear ran down Harry's face as a slightly strangled chuckle escaped him. "Why?"

Harry wasn't entirely sure what the question was. Why would he come back to see me? Why did he come to the Ministry? Why would he leave Grimmauld Place when he knew it wasn't safe? Why? But Snape could answer them all with a single reply.

"Because he loved you."

Another tear followed the first and a sob escaped from the teenager. Snape was completely unprepared for it when Harry turned and wrapped his arms around him, sobbing into the man's robes. Severus stood completely still for an instant, unsure of what to do, but awkwardly patted the emotional teenager on the back before simply sitting down next to him and offering whatever comfort he had.

Neither moved until it was almost sunrise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**Author's Note**

Well, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but that's to be expected from a chapter that has been haunting me for about eight months now. I never want to see this chapter ever again! However, the good thing about it is that I'm almost finished chapter ten. Actually, I started ten before I got very far with nine. I had this awesome scene in my head, and I wrote it really quickly before I could forget. So I should have chapter ten up very soon, hopefully within a month! There's also a lot less angstyness in the next chapter. This was basically a chapter full of fill-in plot, which will have almost nothing to do with future chapters, but I just wanted to get to Halloween without skipping two months. Now I'm only skipping one!

Before I forget, I'd like to thank Shikes for all her help on this chapter. I never would have been able to finish it without her! I actually did about half of the writing, but the rest was her. Hopefully, I won't encounter another chapter like this one ever again…

Also, sorry if the characters seem out of character, or even out of character from how I've been portraying them, but none of them wanted to co-operate with me for this. I had other things I wanted to do in here and some things I never even thought about until they were written, but this is the way it turned out.

**Reviews**

Thanks to my Evil Advisor (**Gldnlqr**), **WitchVela**, **Serpent91**, **hermiones** **mirror** **twin** (yes, I know Blaise is supposed to be a boy, but I wanted to write a girl so _:shrugs:_), **websurffer**, **crazy-lil-nae-nae**, **sarah-sama**, **LauraDee** (I told you this time, aren't you proud?), **MinaChan** (Yay! I'm number one! _:Takes virtual cookie:_ Thanks! ), **Touch of the Wind**, **The Insane Imortal Dragon**, **Alexandria Jade Lily Potter** (You'll just have to wait and find out! _:grin:_), **cHiBi-nIN** (Short reviews are ok, I'll take all of them I can get!), **rbtfngyuj0**, **elka** **shadow** (I know how you feel, happens to me all the time… In apology, I shall give you a cookie. _:hands over a cookie:_), **charmedsisters** (I'm glad you decided to read it! I'm going to try and make it as plausible as possible for a 'Harry gets powers' fic, and hopefully he doesn't get too powerful…), **Griffen48035** (I think I replied to yours already… If I didn't you can yell at me…), and **insanechildfanfic**.

**VeryDarkAngel73 - **Thanks for the review, and don't worry, you don't have to talk me into that EVIL EVIL pairing because I was already planning on it :grin: I am planning on doing a bit of HPDM though, so that should make your friend happy if they're a draco fan.  
You can steal my Evil Death Glare of Doom if you like, but you have to give me credit for its invention (even though someone else probably came up with it sometime… but that isn't the point…) and I'll say it qualifies under the Evil Associate title.  
Hope the chapter helps with your withdrawals!  
Um… his powers will come about sometime, I'm planning on two thingys and one is found very soon, so look out for it!

If I missed anyone, feel free to review and curse at me.


	11. Don't Know Who It Is You Despise

**Rhapsody of Harry Potter**

**Chapter Ten: Don't Know Who It Is You Despise**

Rated PG13

Disclaimer: Once again, Chapter titles from 'Hallelujah Man' by Love and Money. Once again, I don't own Harry Potter. Snape wouldn't be evil if I did. And there'd be a lot less stupidness from Harry. Just had to mention that. Also, this chapter is dedicated to my Evil Advisor and 'regular reviewer', Gldnlqr for good luck!

Warnings: I'll get to the slash. Eventually! I'll get to the abuse scene. Eventually! I'll finish chapter nine… silence …

G – _:Sigh:_ Yes, I'm writing chapter ten before chapter nine. Chapter nine just doesn't want to be written. I swear it's against me _:glares at chapter nine:_

A – You could just skip it you know.

G – _:Strikes over-dramatic pose with the Evil File of LIKITYSPLIT held as a sword:_ NO! Never! I refuse to let the chapter beat me!

K – _:dramatic sigh: _I'm surrounded by idiots.

* * *

"This is the captain. There's a little problem with our entry sequence. We may experience slight turbulence and then explode."

* * *

_Previously on _Rhapsody of Harry Potter:

_Severus stood completely still for an instant, unsure of what to do, but awkwardly patted the emotional teenager on the back before simply sitting down next to him and offering whatever comfort he had.  
__Neither moved until it was almost sunrise._

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Thursday Morning (31st October)_

It had finally come. The day that all people in the Seventh year of Hogwarts would get to go to another school, learn new and exciting things, and just generally slack off for a couple of weeks.

At quarter to eight most of the seventh year students were up to say their goodbyes to their friends or family in younger years before they had to go to their classes. Most people didn't include a certain Harry Potter, a fact that a certain Ginevra Weasley wasn't too happy about.

"Harry! Get up, it's Halloween!" Neville hissed, prodding the sleeping boy in the side.

Harry just groaned and burrowed deeper into his blankets, murmuring something that sounded vaguely like 'Bug roll' but could have been 'Bugger off'. Bugger off seemed to make more sense.

"Harry!" Neville yelled with a hint of desperation in his voice. "Please get up! Ginny said that if I don't get you up in five minute…" the boy trailed off and shuddered.

"Urgh," was the articulate reply that came from the Boy-Who-Lived as he rolled out of bed, taking all of the blankets with him.

For a few seconds the teenager seemed to struggle against the confines of the million layers of linen before he was still once again. Neville blinked at the bundle on the floor.

"Harry?" he asked, prodding the bundle with his foot. "Ha-arry!"

"M'up," came a soft mumble from somewhere inside the blankets.

Slowly, the pile crawled over to the trunk located at the foot of the bed and a hand reached out to pull in the clothes that Harry had set out the night before. It was like watching some abstract form of osmosis. Neville watched in amazement as the bundle shuffled around for a minute before Harry finally, after a brief struggle with an errant sheet, stood up fully clothed.

"Alrighty, let's go see our lovely red-head demoness," Harry said, showing no signs of having been asleep until a few seconds prior.

At the mention of Ginny, Neville immediately paled and went into panic mode, grabbing Harry's wrist and dragging him from the dorm down to the common room. At the foot of the steps stood a certain Weasley, her arms crossed over her chest and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Four minutes and fifty-three seconds," Ginny said with a frown on her face, making Neville's eyes widen in what was either relief or fear, it was hard to tell. Then the girl grinned at him. "Thank you Neville!"

Neville's eye twitched as she hugged him warmly, with Harry simply standing to the side sniggering at the look on the teenage boy's face.

"You'll have to excuse her Neville, she's bi-polar," Harry said with a teasing grin.

Ginny's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What's that?"

Harry smiled innocently. "Nothing."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---

By quarter to ten, every student was packed and ready to leave, and were standing around in the Entrance Hall waiting for the two supervising teachers to make their appearance. Half of the students were wondering if they could make a run for it and get the train to leave before the teachers (namely Professor Snape) could catch up and go with them.

Unfortunately for them the two teachers appeared at that point, marking their names off and leading them towards the waiting Hogwarts Express in what could possibly be construed as an orderly fashion if you squinted and tilted your head to the side. Since there was only one year group taking the train, most of the carriages had been taken off, however there were still enough for groups of four to sit in each and still have some left over.

Hermione, Neville and Harry put their belongings in the third compartment from the end of the train. Ron attempted to sit with them, but he was glared out of the compartment by Hermione, who would probably never forgive him for cheating on her when they were going out the year before. Soon, the train began moving and the three settled into their seats.

All three were reading books they had brought along when Harry thought he heard someone talking softly.

"Can you guys hear that?" he asked softly, looking suspiciously at the doors.

"Hmm? Hear what?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.

Hearing nothing, Harry sighed and shook his head. "Nothing I guess, never mind."

Soon, however, he heard the soft murmurs again, which were shortly followed by a shushing sound. This time though, Harry could tell the direction they were coming from, and they were definitely coming from his… trunk? The teenager rolled his eyes as he realised what it was and opened up his trunk before glaring down at the creature.

"_Didn't I tell you that you couldn't come in case the other school has something against Dark creatures, especially poisonous ones?_" Harry hissed, startling both the serpent and the humans in the room.

"_Busted,_" Sever moaned.

"_Well you can't have expected us to stay there! All the other humans look at us funny, like we're going to eat them if they turn their backs on us!_" Sev complained.

"_Besides, what would we do at that place without you? The large man might come after us again!_" Sevvie said in horror, and all three shuddered in one moment of unity.

Harry sighed in annoyance. "_Fine, it's not like I can take you back now is it?_"

The three let out cheers and started to do some sort of strange snake victory dance. Harry rolled his eyes at them and went back to reading his book, not noticing the shocked looks Hermione and Neville were giving the insane Runespoor.

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Thursday Afternoon_

At around midday, Dean and Seamus had come into their compartment to get away from Ron, who had apparently been ranting about how Harry was evil and Hermione was still in love with him. In an attempt to keep Hermione from going to Azkaban for murder, Dean started teaching them how to play Speed, a muggle card game that was really quite interesting with cards that had a tendency to explode.

Hermione started laughing evilly after winning the round of cards once again. It wasn't that she was an exceptional player, and neither was Dean particularly bad at the game, it was more that the Gryffindor realised that Hermione was in a mood where if someone got in her way then someone was going to die. Fortunately, Dean had enough self preservation to realise this fact and took appropriate action against being that someone.

"So what are you doing for Christmas Neville?" Seamus asked in an attempt to block out the sound of Hermione's cackle, which kinda scared everyone in the compartment.

"Me and Gran are just having dinner with some of the family," Neville said, making a face.

"What's that face for Nev! It can't be that bad!" Seamus said with a laugh.

Neville grunted. "You know my Great Uncle Algie, the one who dropped me off a balcony? He's going to be there and he always tells that story, making it sound like it's because of him I have any magic at all. The family was so proud of him for dropping a child off a balcony."

"Harsh," Dean said, looking up from the new round of cards and missing Hermione's blatant cheating and therefore win of the game. Looking away couldn't block out the subsequent cackling, though.

Harry sighed softly to himself as the talk turned to the holidays. Now there was something he didn't want to think about, let alone talk about. Besides, what would he tell them? _Oh yeah, on Christmas I'll probably be locked in a cupboard with a few broken bones. Possibly unconscious so that I don't make any noise while my relatives have friends over._

That would go over well.

"Guys, I'm going to wander around for a while, stretch my legs and all that," Harry said as he stood up and stretched his arms for effect. "_Don't bite anyone Sever_."

They all murmured their general agreement, except for Sever who was muttering to himself about the unfairness of it all, as he walked out the door. Hermione would have been a bit more worried about him if she hadn't been lost in her own world of rage at males in general.

Harry walked to the back of the train and out onto the small platform at the end. It was a quite cold considering it was nearing winter, but sort of like flying a broom with the wind whipping through his hair, only backwards. Of course, riding a broom backwards would be quite uncomfortable, not to mention dangerous, so it wasn't advisable.

He wasn't sure how long he was out there watching the scenery go past at high speeds, but after a while he heard the door slide open slightly.

"_Harry?_"

The boy turned his head to find the Runespoor slithering out towards him. "_What are you doing here?_"

"_You left us there ages ago!_" Sev hissed.

"_And that loud one was looking at us funny,_" Sever sneered. Well, obviously he didn't actually sneer, but Harry could hear it in his voice and raised his eyebrows at them.

"_Actually, that female was scaring us with her cackling,_" Sevvie said, and you could practically see him smirking at the other two.

The teenager grinned at them as they glared at the Dreamer for telling him that they were afraid of Hermione.

"_Don't worry, I find her scary a lot of the time,_" he said as they wrapped themselves around his neck loosely before going back to watching the scenery fly past.

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Late Thursday Afternoon_

Severus Snape was sitting in the compartment he had managed to secure for himself reading a novel when the door to the hallway slid open slightly. The man turned to glare at whoever dared to intrude on him.

There was nobody there.

Severus frowned at the doorway and was about to get up to close it when he felt something wrap around one of his ankles. Looking down he saw a reasonable sized orange and black striped Runespoor that seemed to be attempting to gain his attention. Severus froze at the sight.

"Bloody hell," he swore.

Then the snake started towards the door, and Severus nearly sighed in relief. That was until he realised that the Runespoor hadn't let go of his ankle and was, in fact, pulling him with it. He quickly stood up, taking a step towards it, and the snake seemed to nod before letting go and continuing towards the door, turning back every now and then to make sure that the man was following.

It was quite odd, having a serpent with three heads lead you somewhere.

The Runespoor had him follow them just down the corridor and out onto the small platform at the back of the train. That made sense, since he was in the last compartment it was probably the closest. Following it through the door, Severus realised that there was another person sitting near the railing.

"Potter?" he asked.

_What am I talking about?_ Severus thought to himself._ Of course it's Potter_._ Who else would have a snake out doing his bidding_..._ Apart from the Dark Lord, and hopefully he isn't on the train_.

The teenager turned around, and Severus realised why the Runespoor had brought him out here. Potter was pale and shivering, and his lips had turned blue. It looked like he, being the Gryffindor he was, hadn't even noticed that he was freezing himself to death.

"Merlin, Potter! You have enough people attempting to murder you without adding yourself to the list."

Potter blinked in confusion for a second before he was distracted by the rapid hissing of the Runespoor that had wrapped itself around his neck in what looked like an imitation of a Chudley Cannon's scarf. The Gryffindor hissed something in return before turning back to his professor.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Your Runespoor fetched me Mister Potter," he replied and the teenager glared at the snake. "It's a good thing he did, otherwise you could have gotten hypothermia."

"It isn't that cold," he replied in confusion.

"Actually, it is quite cold, Potter, and it looks as though you have spent quite a long time out here freezing yourself," Severus said with a raised eyebrow. "Come with me."

Harry slowly stood up and followed his professor inside the train and into the first compartment they came across. Harry realised that this must be where the man had been sitting before the Runespoor had brought him outside. When he stepped into the compartment, the Boy-Who-Lived realised exactly how cold he actually was. How could he not have noticed himself shivering uncontrollably?

"Here," Snape said as he handed over a warm looking blanket that he had conjured and sat down on one of the seats, picking up a book that had been lying next to him.

Harry blinked at the blanket for a second before wrapping it around himself and sitting on the opposite seat. Smiling slightly, he snuggled further into it, much to the amusement of Sever; who was then hit over the head with the end of their tail and Sev somehow managed to whistle innocently.

Harry looked over at the Professor, who was steadfastly ignoring him in favour of his book.

"Thanks."

--- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP --- RoHP ---  
_Thursday Night_

"Professor?" Harry said tentatively, standing up and reluctantly taking off the blanket. "I should probably get back to the others before Hermione stops being angry at Ron and realises that I've been gone since lunch."

The Potions Professor looked up from his book to the teenager who now looked a much healthier shade and nodded slightly.

"Very well," he replied and vanished the blanket. "And take your Runespoor with you," he added as he glared at the serpent currently wrapped around his arm, having relocated after they decided that Harry wasn't warm enough for them.

Harry mourned the loss of the comfy blanket for a moment before he was suddenly thrown forwards into his professor as the train came to an abrupt halt. Blushing, Harry pulled himself away from Snape and looked at the ground.

"Sorry," he apologised quickly.

"This isn't exactly the time Potter," the man replied, looking out the window.

A chill spread throughout the room and Harry was hit by a sudden sense of déjà vu. It was like third year all over again. Except this time he knew what was happening.

"Dementors," he whispered.

Snape shook his head. "Not just Dementors," he replied, gesturing for Harry to look out the window, which had just started to frost over.

Harry blinked when he looked out into the darkness as his eyes adjusted to the light. However, when he could see what was moving towards the rapidly decelerating train his eyes widened. "Holy shit."

"Language, Mr. Potter."

"I'd apologise but I think it's appropriate language given the situation."

For outside were what appeared to be hundreds of dark creatures. Dementors glided out of the thick forest, followed closely by the Lethifolds that looked vaguely like them, Quintapeds, Vampires, and many things that Harry had never seen before.

"I've never even heard of half of those things," Harry said in shock as the train shuddered to a complete halt. "How the hell are we supposed to get rid of them all?"

"I can't do anything. I can't be seen helping you, it would destroy my cover," Snape said with a barely perceptible frown.

Harry looked at the man's face. He couldn't be _seen_ helping… The Gryffindor quickly crouched down and pulled a vial out of the hem of his robes, before swiftly standing and holding the vial out to his professor. Snape's eyes widened as he took the vial and uncorked it.

"Where on earth did you get Polyjuice Potion?" he asked suspiciously.

"I made it. It's safe, I've used this batch before," Harry reassured him.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "_This_ batch?"

"Um… yeah…"

"We will be having a talk about this when we are no longer in a life threatening situation Mr Potter," Snape said, then downed the vial of potion and made a disgusted face.

The transformation progressed in the normal way of Polyjuice Potion transformations, and Professor Snape ended up shrinking into the form of a teenager with short brown hair, light skin and light brown eyes. Snape looked down at himself, noticing the slight difference in height, and sighed before taking off his now too long robes. A minute later, after he finished contending with the numerous buttons and a Runespoor that didn't want to move, he rolled up the sleeves of the white dress shirt he was wearing underneath, as well as the hems of his black trousers. Finally he turned to look at Harry.

"Who am I?"

"I have no idea. I pulled out some hair from a guy I was walking past at the train station at the start of the summer holidays," Harry replied nonchalantly.

"So you have no idea who I am currently impersonating?" Snape sighed. "Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter. Can I trust you to check if the driver stopped the train willingly or not?" Harry nodded in acceptance and began walking out the door. "On the way, check the compartments to see if anyone can perform the Patronus or Solar Lumos Charms and get them to cast out the windows."

Harry just nodded his head to show he had heard and walked down the corridor. At the next compartment, Harry stuck his head in and found himself at the end of four wands. Harry raised his eyebrows at them and the four Gryffindors smiled sheepishly at him.

"Sorry Harry, we didn't know it was you," Hermione apologised.

"That's fine, better safe than sorry," Harry waved off her apology. "Can any of you do the Patronus or Solar Lumos Charms?"

Hermione, Neville, Dean and Seamus were all in the DA, so he knew that they could at least do a vague Patronus. Only Hermione and Neville knew the Solar Lumos charm though.

"Ok, could one of you stay here and the other go tell other compartments? If there's a group that has nobody who knows either charms then see if you can stay there or send someone who does. Start casting out the window as soon as you see something coming. Ok?" Harry directed.

The four of them nodded and Hermione followed him out into the corridor, separating at the next compartment. As he neared the front, Harry began warning people again as he doubted Hermione would make it that far in time to warn them. Soon he reached the door that would take him to the engine and the driver.

Harry grasped the handle and pulled, swearing to himself as the door stayed firmly shut and locked. Figuring it was worth a try, he rapped his knuckles against the door. The Gryffindor was utterly shocked when the door swung open.

So was the driver, for that matter, and there was a split second when the two just stood and stared at each other as though neither realised what had happened. Then both pulled out their wands and fired.

Fortunately for Harry, his reaction time was better and he was able to reflect the driver's curse back at him. It was a wonderful shield spell, and Harry made a mental note to himself to thank Hermione for giving him that book for Christmas.

The driver, however, wouldn't be in any condition to thank anyone any time soon. The curse he had fired at Harry had created what appeared to be puncture wounds all over his body. There was a lot of blood pouring out of the man's wounds, and Harry Stupefied him to prevent him from bleeding to death in the next five minutes. (A/N, I don't think that would work in the books, but I figure if someone is frozen then their blood would stop too… which could be dangerous really…)

All of a sudden, Harry heard a loud thump on the roof. The teenager looked up in surprise before quickly walking back out the door and climbing up a ladder attached to the train next to the door leading to the next carriage. Harry climbed up onto the rooftop and a gust of wind whipped around him, almost making him loose his balance. After finding his footing, he looked around and it was quite easy to find what had caused the noise.

On the roof of the next carriage, Professor Snape was surrounded by what appeared to be enormous birds that looked as though they had been raised from the dead and was casting spells at a rapid pace to ward them off. Occasionally one would be hit by a spell that made them recoil backwards and fall to the ground.

Harry was suddenly swooped by one of the bird creatures and he quickly ducked to avoid its long claws. However, the bird managed to leave a gash going from his left cheek over his glasses and onto his forehead. Harry put a hand to his cheek and winced. This was one of those times when he was glad that the Dursley's had replaced the lenses in his glasses with ordinary glass so that nobody would find out about his healing ability. He wore them all the time because he didn't want anyone to find out about his ability either.

Harry turned around to find the bird swooping in for another attack. _Bastard!_

"_Reducto!_" he cried, aiming for the bird.

The funny thing was, it almost seemed to have a look of surprise on its face as a large hole was burnt in its chest and it fell onto the roof of the train. Either way it was dead, and he had managed to get his professor's attention.

"Potter! Get back into the train!" Snape yelled at him before casting another spell to ward off the birds.

Harry looked down at what had previously been known as a ladder. "Er, sorry, but I can't," he replied before casting another reductor curse and exploding a bird's head.

"And why would that be!" he yelled back.

"Because something destroyed the ladder!" Harry turned back around and was attacked by another bird.

Then he stopped and stared. The bird had a huge hole in its chest, and it didn't seem to be slowing it down one bit.

"Shit!" he swore. "How do you kill these things!" he yelled to his Professor.

"Cut their heads off, burn them or give them a close range dose of sunlight!" came the reply.

Harry waited as the bird dived at him, then at the last moment held his wand up and dodged, letting the bird spear itself on the wand. Seemingly shocked, the bird stopped flapping and consequently fell to the floor again. This time, however, Harry grasped the handle of the wand sticking out of its neck.

"_Lumos solarium!_" he incanted, and a burst of sunlight came from his wand going straight into the light intolerant bird's neck.

The bird burst into flames and was reduce to a pile of ashes that were quickly blown away in the wind. A bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated the sections of the surroundings not already lit by people in the train casting the Solar Lumos or Patronus charms and then it began to rain. What epic battle scene would be complete without a thunder storm?

Harry was grateful that he still had a water repelling charm on his glasses, and turned to protect himself from more of the birds. He looked up just in time to see his professor picked up by the shoulders by a bird and swiftly carried off the train. As it was nearing the forest and swooped a little lower, a crossbow bolt shot through its bone, tearing the wing from the joint.

The bird screeched in pain and spiralled down into the mass of dark creatures with Professor Snape still held in its talons. Harry ducked down and looked over the edge of the train to see what had shot the bird. He got there just in time to see Hagrid's large form duck back inside the train to avoid an angry mob of the birds.

Harry was sure that they wouldn't last much longer. The dark creatures were moving steadily closer and the students were tiring quickly from the repeated use of the advanced charms. Then there was the fact that probably the best person for fighting them off had been dropped in the middle of them and the actuality of his survival was uncertain at best, plus the birds had progressed to dive bombing the roof to try and make their own entrances.

_Think Harry, think!_ he told himself, using a quickly erected shield charm to stop a hoard of birds from attacking him…_ That's it!_ He thought, remembering an obscure reference in a book he had gotten from Blaise the previous year.

'… _When using a shield charm, one must think of what you wish to shield_._ Though it is possible to shield an area of approximately four people using a single shield spell, this may not always be the maximum area needing shielding_._ When you are shielding, it is possible to expand the area using _'effingo contego'. _When using this spell, it is important to let the spell know the area it needs to protect and what should be allowed inside_. _Though useful, this spell is not often used as it takes a great amount of magic to hold for a short amount of time and usually leaves the caster in a state of magical exhaustion_.'

"If this works, I'm gonna buy Blaise and Hermione their own castles. _Effingo contego!_" Harry yelled, keeping a clear image in his mind of what he wanted to include in the shield.

The shielding spell around him rapidly spread out to include the entire train and its inhabitants, creating a silvery mist between it and the dark creatures that had been slowly but steadily encroaching upon them. The entire field froze in astonishment; all spell casting stopped instantly as they stared at the shield.

It was only the sudden death of a vampire as he was speared straight through the heart by a wand that started the noise up again.

Harry looked to the source and found that Snape, though he was looking a little worse for the wear, was methodically staking the crowd of vampires he had been dropped into in order to get back to the train. It looked as though Sever was helping as well, as occasionally one of the dark creatures that got too close would fall over and die for seemingly no reason. Others on the train must have noticed them too, as there was suddenly a slew of spells being hurtled at the creatures to try and clear a path back to the train for the unknown student (unknown to them at any rate).

After another minute, Harry was inclined to agree with the book about the level of magic needed to hold the expanded shield spell; he could literally feel it draining his already depleted magic. Someone else had better come up with a brilliant idea soon, as he was almost out of time and he would be in no shape to be coming up with any more.

Almost as if he was in slow motion, Harry fell to his knees as he struggled to keep up the spell and stay conscious. He didn't even notice that he was shaking until a pair of hands grasped his shoulders and Blaise sunk to her knees next to him.

"We're going to try and help, Harry," the girl said, indicating herself, Hermione and Draco, who Harry hadn't noticed were standing next to her. "Draco knows a spell that will, hopefully, loan you our magic."

"Hopefully?" Harry whispered.

"Er, well… it's sort of like a blood transfusion," Hermione explained. "The magic needs to be compatible for it to work."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Just do it."

Draco and Hermione knelt down next to them and the Slytherin grasped Harry's left hand and Blaise's right before he began to chant something in Latin. Hermione quickly followed his lead and took Blaise and Harry's other hands and they started chanting with him. Soon he felt a slight burning sensation in his hands, which quickly changed as it travelled up his arms and filled him with magic. He closed his eyes and revelled in the feeling of power that washed over him as he absorbed his friends' magic.

He suddenly noticed that the three had stopped chanting the spell and let go of his hands. "Is everyone inside the shield?"

"There's just the guy who's in the middle of the vampires," Draco said in an exhausted voice.

"Can you get him up here?"

"No, we don't have enough magic left," Hermione sighed.

"_Accio Professor Snape_," Harry snapped, opening his eyes.

The three others stared at him. His eyes were completely black and seemed totally endless and sparks of magic travelled up and down a cut he had managed to get on his left cheek, though nothing appeared to be happening to the gash except for the blood being washed away by the rain. They were all distracted, however, when something crashed into the three of them.

"Ow!" Blaise yelped, sitting back up and looking at what had attacked them.

"I apologise, even though it is hardly my fault that happened," the boy who had crashed into them said, glaring daggers at Harry.

"Professor Snape!" Hermione exclaimed.

"What?" he snapped, wiping blood off his wand.

Quite suddenly, the shield surrounding the train pulsed a bright light, and then expanded out even further, reaching the edge of the forest before winking out of existence.

The night was suddenly very quiet except for the steady beat of rain.

A cheer sounded from somewhere in the train, and the students went wild as they realised all the creatures were gone. They had no idea how, or who had done it, but that didn't matter.

As it was, only four people heard the thud as Harry collapsed backwards.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Sorry, I had to stop it there. The writing just said, I refuse to let you continue, not when you have this perfect cliff hanger here! I just have to ask, what would a group of Dark creatures be called? I'm giving away Cookies with suspicious black globs in them to people who answer!

Well, I'm finally past chapter nine. I hate that chapter. But now that it's gone, I shall hopefully update a bit more regularly, but at the moment it's close to summer, so my brain will probably melt soon. I hate summer. When I take over the world I plan on banning it… And I refuse to listen to reason!

Yes… Anyway… This is my holiday present to you! Hooray! It's mainly because I probably won't have time soon what with studying and everything, so yeah.

Thanks be to my reviewers! That's _LauraDee_, _Harry potter Goddess_ - who gets a double mention because I forgot her in the last chapter, _Ellen_, _Touch of the Wind_ (Yes, it will be), _The Insane Imortal Dragon_, _Serpent91_, _Lady-of-the-gray_, _SakuraSyaoran4eva_ (Yeah, I know. Hopefully this chapter is better! And about the only part of that chapter I was happy with was the ending, so I'm glad you thought it was sweet!), _Gldnlqr_, _websurffer_, _storm tigeress_, _VeryDarkAngel73 _(Glad it helped!), and _WitchVela_ (Blaise is probably my fav original-type character in this!).

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